* Support for President Obama’s request to strike Syria appears wobbly in the US Congress and even more shaky abroad. WaPo on Congress | WSJ on Russia | Reuters on strike costs.
* From the Economist, a magazine that ended up deeply regretting its staunch support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003: Syria is not Iraq.
* Soon-departing BAE CEO Linda Hudson said during a conference hosted by Reuters: “We are monitoring our suppliers in a way we have never monitored our suppliers [to] make sure a critical hole doesn’t develop in our supply chain.”
* South Korea’s shipbuilding and naval basing plans indicate that they are developing a blue water navy.
* Russia’s defense ministry is drafting new shipbuilding rules and long-term plans, with the intent of building more ships of fewer types, with a longer lifespan.
* Western European manufacturers are developing partnerships with Polish firms in hopes of winning current competitions for helicopters, trainer aircraft, and radars: UPI | FOB [in French].
* Spain’s navy has finished integration tests of a Saab Skeldar V-200 UAV which they will soon deploy for anti-piracy operations in the Indian ocean. The Armada plans to procure more UAVs in what appears to be an open competition.
* GQ describes at length what happened 1 year ago this month, as 15 Taliban snuck onto one of the largest air bases in Afghanistan, and destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of planes.
* Today’s video below shows soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 11th (US) Marines firing their M777 lightweight howitzers during recent live-fire exercises:
