* Syrian rebels armed and trained by the US surrendered to al-Qaeda [The Telegraph], with armament that may include TOW missiles. These aren’t an international concern, but they will make Daesh more formidable. See DID’s coverage from December last year of...
* Herve Guillou, the new boss at French shipbuilder DCNS, is eager to get a share of Canada’s huge forthcoming naval programs, and is willing to build ships in Canada with local partners as well as transfer technologies to sweeten the deal. National Post. *...
* The UK awarded a £1.5 billion contract ($2.4B) to Aquila, a joint venture set between Thales and NATS to update and sustain military air traffic management. They’re merging what used to be about 70 contracts into a single program called Marshall, whose...
* After years of belt-tightening by postponing procurement programs, Spain’s Defense State Secretary and former Boeing executive Pedro Argüelles announced a €10B investment plan that includes F-110 frigates and 8×8 infantry vehicles, writes La Semana [in...
* US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) reached $31.2B in FY14 (i.e. ending Sept. 30), and with additional exports handled through other mechanisms, total sales announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) reached $34.2B. That’s slightly above the...
