* 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.