* While President Obama had not reached a decision yesterday about the way to proceed with Syria, 116 members of the US House of Representatives, most of them Republicans, signed a letter [PDF] urging him to consult Congress before launching strikes. Like many, House...
* As the US is getting ready for a limited strike on Syrian military installations, the non sequitur of the day comes from Iran's Fars news agency: "[Parliament Speaker] Larijani said there is no need for Syria to respect the international regulations if they will be...
XM-7 Spider System(click to view full) The 2004 National Landmine Policy directed the Pentagon to end the use of persistent landmines after 2010, and introduce self-destructing and self-deactivating alternatives. The XM-7 Spider is the successor to the Matrix system...
UH-60Q, Baghdad(click to view full) Sikorsky's H-60 Hawk family has become the backbone of the US Army and Navy's helicopter force, with a number of fielded variants. The USAF's HH-60 is well known for its medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) role, as well as its combat...
* Pressure mounts for strikes on Syria over apparent use of poison gas. The US Administration is signaling that it will conduct a "punitive strike." This would express moral outrage and convey a sense that President Obama's threats mean something. But hopes of...
NPOESS (click to view full) The National Polar-orbiting Observing Satellite System (NPOESS) was a joint program of the Department of Defense, Department of Commerce and NASA to replace less sophisticated weather satellites that are expected to fail over the next...
* The Obama administration appears to both think the Syrian government did use chemical weapons against civilians, and prepare a strike in response. This would possibly but not necessarily be done with UN backing, while the British Royal Navy is moving ships in...
* General Dynamics won the Ground Mobility Vehicles 1.1 competition for US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), with a contract worth up to $562M over 7 years. * According to a draft planning document seen by Bloomberg, the Pentagon may fire more than 6,000 civilian...
"Lend me your ears"(click to view full) The US military has come to rely more and more on contractors to provide linguist services to function effectively in non-English speaking regions. The need for these services is particularly acute in the Middle East and Central...