* Textron, already owner of Cessna, is buying Beechcraft for $1.4B in cash.
Competition for Pilots
* The US Air Force fears it will have a hard time competing with airlines for the hiring of new pilots.
Japan: USMC Base
* Okinawa’s governor approved the move of the Futenma US military base to what is currently a landfill, after years of local opposition to keeping the base on the island.
China Boasts About air defense identification zone
* China’s defense ministry claims they “controlled the flight activity of 800 foreign war planes that entered the area between Nov. 23, when the ADIZ was established, and Dec. 22. During the same period, 56 airline companies in 23 countries have reported 21,475 scheduled flights to China [emphasis DID] … China has sent 51 rounds of surveillance aircraft, early warning aircraft, and fighters on a total of 87 flights for policing or patrolling in the ADIZ air space.”
* That statement may imply that China is yielding a bit of ground, since their initial request was that aircraft flying through the ADIZ file a flight plan whether they are flying to China or not.
* But why did China set up this ADIZ in the first place? Robert Kelly offers some theories, and argues that Japan will be the sole bulwark to Chinese hegemony.
Af-Pak-USA
* Sartaj Aziz, a foreign affairs advisor to the Pakistani government, said his country should review its relationship with the US and put the emphasis on mending fences with India. Some observers in Pakistan feel they’ve been reduced to being a client state of the US, but while the White House may settle for mere transactional bilateral dealmaking, some in the US Congress seem to be longing for a time when the relationship was tighter. Back in August Aziz gave assurances to State Secretary Kerry that Pakistan would facilitate the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, yet it hasn’t worked out that way at the border.
* General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the British Army, is worried that the Taliban may gain back a footprint in places British forces are leaving under Afghan control as they’re withdrawing from the country.
* Today’s video comes from NATO and shows some of the recruitment and training efforts to ramp up the Afghan National Army:
