CV32

The Pentagon’s New Jet Fighter Costs Twice as Much as You’re Being Told (War is Boring blog)

Next Years Wars - From Sochi to Sudan, 10 conflicts that will threaten global stability in 2014. (Foreign Policy)

Happy New Year. Hope 2014 is an excellent one for you and yours.

22 December 1964 First flight of the Lockheed SR-71.

Lots of details on the Type 052D China Destroyer Consolidates Innovations, Other Ship Advances (Signal)

Russia to Commission 2nd Borey Nuclear Sub on Dec. 23 (RIA Novosti)

Fresh impetus for Sea Gripen? (Jane's)

20 December 1989: Operation Just Cause - the US invasion of Panama - is launched. It marks the first combat action for the 'Black Jet' - the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter.

The MiG-15 The Jet that Shocked the West (Air & Space Magazine, January 2014 issue)

UAE Backs out of Typhoon Discussions (DefenseNews)

Cool War Rising (Foreign Policy)

Dassault Blasts Brazil's Fighter Decision (DefenseNews)

19 December 1946 Viet Minh soldiers detonate explosives at a city powerplant in Hanoi, marking the opening salvo of the Battle of Hanoi and the resulting First Indochina War.

Researchers unravel the mystery of Japan's 400-foot, aircraft-launching submarine (Stars and Stripes)

Pakistan Launches Production of New Fighter Jet (DefenseNews)

Reports: Brazil Picks Sweden's Gripen Fighter Jet (DefenseNews)

Still very hypothetical, of course. UK MoD Releases First Images of Royal Navys New Boomers (USNI News)

Yes, very common for Russian warships to be commissioned in late December, probably to satisfy political and budgetary masters, and I suspect that you're probably right that many of them were likely not completely fitted out or battle ready.

18 December 1878 Josef Stalin is born in Gori, Georgia.

Do Joint Fighter Programs Save Money? (RAND report, PDF)

New Russian Ballistic Missile Sub to Join Fleet (RIA Novosti)

USS Cowpens Incident Reveals Strategic Mistrust Between U.S. and China (The Diplomat, Flashpoints)

17 December 1988 USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), the ninth boat of the Ohio class and the first to carry the UGM-133 Trident II D-5 ballistic missile, is commissioned.

U.S. says Chinese warship nearly struck Navy cruiser (Navy Times) China paper: Cowpens harassed China fleet during drill (Navy Times) USS Cowpens: Why China forced a confrontation at sea with US Navy (Christian Science Monitor)

Yes, working on cues from an ESM hit typically.