* Russia is about to order 65 Yakovlev Yak-130 jet trainers, to be delivered by 2017.
* Dmitry Gorenburg posted a series of 3 articles covering the span of Russia-NATO military cooperation. Things started with joint training but now also include operational cooperation such as allowing the Northern Distribution Network to fly over Russia supply US troops in Afghanistan, as well as industrial cooperation, most notably with France, including, but not limited to, Mistral ships. Case in point, just yesterday Government-owned Russian Technologies signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indra of Spain that spans several industries including defense.
* Venezuela’s $3.6B in bond deals with Russia this year “point to defense purchases” according to UPI and in line with news reports from last August.
* More than half of France’s modest defense budget growth originally projected for 2012 is cancelled [in French] because of “austerity” measures undertaken by the French government to preserve the country’s AAA sovereign debt rating. With yesterday’s offer by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign, pressure has now clearly moved from the edge (think Greece or Portugal) to the core of the Euro zone. This will continue to shape defense spending.
* RAND argues that heavy armored vehicles still have a role.
* US Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) sent a joint letter to GAO Comptroller Gene Dodaro voicing their concern that the Veterans First contracting preference program is not supported by proper verification efforts.
* USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Programs Maj. Gen. James Holmes was on C-Span yesterday to discuss what the Air Force will look like in the future. Video embedded below.
* British Lynx helicopters had a relatively quiet tour this summer in Afghanistan, according to the 2nd video below: