* India is justifiably touting the low $74M cost [BBC] of its successful mission to put a satellite in orbit around Mars [ISRO]. Prime Minister Modi couldn’t hope for a better springboard to launch a “Make in India” campaign [Business Standard]. India is often mired in red tape, so a successful project done cheaply by keeping things simple is even more of a rousing achievement.
US Budget, Politics
* House Appropriations Defense sub committee chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen [R-NJ] sent a letter to the Pentagon last week denying the most expensive items in its FY14 reprogramming request, on the (legitimate) grounds that Overseas Contingency Operations are being subverted to fill gaps in the base budget without connection to actual operations in progress. Thus, hundreds of millions of dollars in increases for AH64 helos and F-35s are denied by the committee.
* The NYT’s Upshot provides nifty charts and tables keeping track of the odds for the Republicans and Democrats fighting in the November 4 midterm election. FiveThirtyEight’s forecast sees slightly tighter odds for the Republicans to win a majority in the Senate (Republican control of the House is taken for granted this year). At most 10 Senate races seem competitive at this point.
Macro Environment
* US defense firms with bullish export plans will have to take into account that they’re facing headwinds with the US dollar at a 4-year high [BusinessWeek] while commodity prices are receding. That’s a double whammy for the purchasing power of many emerging economies.
Europe
* According to NATO officials, Russia withdrew [NYT] most of its troops from eastern Ukraine but keeps them near the border.
Middle East
* Belgium’s government agreed yesterday to send 6 F-16s and some C-130s at the USA’s request to contribute to the fight against ISIS. Reuters | RTL [in French].
* Long War Journal: Islamic State overruns Iraqi military base in Anbar.
* On Tuesday Israel shot down a Syrian Su-24 as it was entering their airspace. That’s a serious loss for the Syrians, given the swing-wing plane’s high bomb load and usefulness for strike missions.
* Today’s video, from the Pentagon, describes the latest airstrikes in Syria launched against small oil refineries used by ISIS to fund itself: