* Hearings on the FY14 US defense budget at the US House Armed Services Committee (HASC) begin, starting with the Secretary of Defense with the service chiefs coming in days ahead.
* One item discussed in this morning’s HASC hearing with Chuck Hagel is the large size of the OCO placeholder and the Administration’s signalling that the real number, to be communicated in a month or so, might end up close to $88.5B anyway, despite a smaller amount of troops left in Afghanistan. High exit costs is the justification. Yesterday’s submission cannot be considered to be a full defense budget in the absence of its war spending component.
* Our document repository now features all the latest Pentagon budget documents, though they have yet to release some defense-wide items.
* Russia’s Air Force has approved the conceptual design of its PAK-DA future strategic bomber, according to RIA Novosti. It’s apparently an expensive proposition.
* India’s government-affiliated ISDA think tank researches [PDF] how China defines its national interest and perceives external threats. The monograph puts the emphasis on the Community Party’s self-preservation instincts:
“With the inclusion of ‘China’s political system established by the constitution and overall social stability’ as components of it core interests it is clear that the main focus of the Communist Party is maintaining domestic legitimacy. China’s foreign policy therefore should be seen through the prism of domestic concerns.”
* France’s DGA procurement agency qualified [in French] the Tiger helicopter in its support and attack version, one of several milestones on the way to full rate production.
* Senegal ordered three A-29 Super Tucano trainers from Embraer.
* This week a small Chinese escort taskforce is paying a visit to Morocco for the first time. Global Times.