velero: chart 8.x->12.x (Velero 1.15->1.18), plugin-for-aws v1.14.2 (k8s 1.36 catch-up)

CRDs pre-applied server-side (upgradeCRDs:false; chart hook image was removed from Docker Hub).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <[email protected]>

platform/velero/helmrelease.yaml

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ spec:
   chart:
     spec:
       chart: velero
-      version: ">=8.0.0 <9.0.0"   # Velero v1.15.x line. TODO(WS-STORAGE): pin at bring-up; Renovate maintains
+      version: ">=12.0.0 <13.0.0"   # Velero v1.18.x line (k8s-1.36 catch-up). CRDs pre-applied server-side (upgradeCRDs:false). Renovate maintains
       sourceRef:
         kind: HelmRepository
         name: vmware-tanzu
@@ -54,10 +54,10 @@ spec:
     #     kubectl mirror (rancher/kubectl is distroless → no /bin/sh for the hook's copy-binary step). ---
     upgradeCRDs: false
     # --- AWS object-store plugin (BSL provider=aws → MinIO S3-compatible), loaded as an init container.
-    #     Image minor MUST track the Velero minor (chart 8.x = Velero 1.15 → plugin v1.11.x). ---
+    #     Image minor MUST track the Velero minor (chart 12.x = Velero 1.18 → plugin v1.14.x). ---
     initContainers:
       - name: velero-plugin-for-aws
-        image: velero/velero-plugin-for-aws:v1.11.1
+        image: velero/velero-plugin-for-aws:v1.14.2
         imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
         volumeMounts:
           - mountPath: /target