Rapid Fire Nov. 26, 2012: German 2013 Budget | 1st FREMM

  • Germany’s Bundestag approved the country’s federal budget for 2013 for a total of 302 billion euros, with around 33.3 billion euros for defense (~$43B), a slight increase above 2012. The country will spend as much next year servicing its sovereign debt as the defense ministry will receive. France is already there. Deutsche Welle | Das Parlament [in German].
  • Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan in response to Russia objecting to the possible deployment of Patriot missile defense – within NATO’s framework – on Turkey’s border with Syria: mind your own business.
  • Kimberly Kagan from the Institute for the Study of War and her husband Frederick Kagan from the American Enterprise Institute: why U.S. troops must stay in Afghanistan.

  • Richard D. Fisher, Jr. at the International Assessment and Strategy Center thinks the US should buy more F-22s and develop low-cost fighters to contain China [PDF].

  • The British Ministry of Defence is set to award more than 4 billion pounds worth of facilities management contracts to private firms next month. Financial Times.

  • Peter Ricketts, the UK’s ambassador to France, in a recent hearing [in French] at the French Senate’s commission for armed forces, when asked about international resource pooling and outsourcing to the private sector:

  • “In my opinion aircraft carriers will stay under sovereign control in any case – I don’t see how the use of such sensitive equipment could happen outside of national political control.”

    • DCNS delivered Acquitaine, the lead frigate in the multi-purpose FREMM class, to France’s defense acquisition agency. Navy Recognition | DGA [in French] | DCNS video at the bottom of this entry.

    Categories: Alliances, Asia - Central, Britain/U.K., Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, France, Germany, Middle East - Other, Russia, Surface Ships - Combat, Think Tanks, USA

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