Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

A Chinese coast guard ship sails during a military drill near Fuzhou, Fujian Province, near the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands, in April 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2024
China steps up gray-zone warfare to exhaust Taiwan, defense report says
China is said to be utilizing tactics like balloons, drones and civilian boats to saturate areas around the island.
Indian soldiers on the India-China border. Ties between India and China sunk in the aftermath of a confrontation in 2021 and haven’t substantially improved since.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2024
India frees up 10,000 more soldiers to guard border with China
The assignment of troops to the stretch of border highlights the region’s strategic importance.
A DITA howitzer-gun vehicle at an arms factory in Sternberk, Czech Republic
WORLD / Politics
Mar 7, 2024
As Russia advances, Europe extends reach to source ammunition for Ukraine
Supplies of ammunition to Ukraine have been interrupted by politics, with U.S. Congress holding up a $60 billion military aid package.
Indian Navy officers stand on the flight deck of India's first home-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in Kochi, India, in September 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 7, 2024
India opens new naval base near Maldives amid tense ties
India's navy has had a small presence on Minicoy Island for decades.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking at an Upper House budget committee session on Tuesday, said that if Japan is unable to sell the new fighter to other countries, the joint project’s success could be undermined.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 6, 2024
Fighter exports crucial for ‘favorable security environment’: Kishida
The prime minister is seeking the backing of Komeito to revise export rules for fighter jets that Tokyo is seeking to build with Britain and Italy.
The Netherland's Prime Minister Mark Rutte waves as he walks past NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a summit at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels in June 2021.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 6, 2024
‘A safe pair of hands’: Dutch PM emerges as NATO chief front-runner
Although the top contender, Mark Rutte may still have to win over about a third of the alliance’s 31-member states.
A military delegation arrives for a meeting Monday, ahead the annual session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 5, 2024
China defense spending to climb 7.2% amid rivalry with U.S.
Beijing's 1.67 trillion yuan ($231.4 billion) budget makes 2024 the ninth straight year to see a single-digit hike in the country’s defense outlays.
A Swedish JAS Gripen fighter jet next to a U.S. plane at Kallax Air Base, Sweden, on Monday. Swedish armed forces joined NATO for exercises on Monday, contributing troops, helicopters and fighter jets as the alliance carries out its largest set of military drills since the end of the Cold War.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2024
Poised to join NATO, Sweden joins its biggest drills since Cold War
The exercises involving over 20,000 troops are being held in a high north being transformed by the NATO accession of Sweden and Finland.
Soldiers during a live-fire exercise in Weiden, Germany
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2024
Germany faces pressure to tighten security after Ukraine details exposed
One official described the lapses that led to the leak as expected from people who have never had security briefings but not from military officials.
The U.S and Japan are working together to secure a stable semiconductor supply chain and maintain their leading position in this critical technology amid concerns over China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 5, 2024
Semiconductors are back to center stage in the Japan-U.S. alliance
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of semiconductors to the 21st century. They’re everywhere and in every digital item.
A U.S Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands as U.S. soldiers wait during the Freedom Shield joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, at a training field near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in Pocheon, South Korea, on March 19, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 4, 2024
South Korea and U.S. kick off annual drills focused on North's nuclear threats
The Freedom Shield joint exercise, which features twice as many field training drills as last year, will run through March 14.
A 2015 protest against the construction of military infrastructure in Okinawa Prefecture. Many residents are also worried about the impact of a Taiwan contingency on their islands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2024
Okinawa’s peace movement carves its own path
Many Okinawans worry about a Taiwan contingency and are angered by U.S. base relocation: Grievances that have given impetus to the islands' own diplomacy.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS security partnership after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 3, 2024
AUKUS eyes defense tech collaboration with Japan, report says
Japan’s involvement in the partnership would be limited to specific projects and would exclude nuclear-powered submarines.
Remember, Vladimir Putin ridiculed the idea that he would invade Ukraine, right up until he ordered close to 200,000 troops over the border.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2024
Would Putin stop if he wins in Ukraine? Let’s not find out.
Just because the Russian leader is a serial liar doesn’t prove he is being untruthful now.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump attends the NATO summit in Watford, England, in December 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2024
The Trump effect takes Europe
There is a chance that the Trump effect could leave the trans-Atlantic order stronger than it has been for a long time.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a news conference at the Vatican on Saturday
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2024
Germany caught out by leak of secret Ukraine war talks
The leak was a 38-minute audio recording of German army officers apparently discussing potential Ukrainian strikes on Crimea in a Feb. 19 videoconference.
Japan has been particularly sensitive about the prospect of resuming Osprey flights following the November crash of a U.S. Air Force CV-22 variant.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 2, 2024
U.S. to lift ban on Osprey flights, three months after deadly Japan crash
The U.S. military will next week share its plans with Japan — the sole international partner involved in the Osprey program.
Artillery shells and primers in a self-propelled howitzer operated by Ukraine’s 80th Brigade, near Kreminna, Ukraine, in January 2023.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 2, 2024
Europe battles gunpowder shortage to supply shells for Ukraine
Hard-to-find gunpowder is hindering Europe's scramble to provide hundreds of thousands of shells to Kyiv.
Rina Gonoi, a former Self-Defense Forces member who accused colleagues of sexually assaulting her during her time in the military, speaks during an interview in Yokohama last December.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 2, 2024
Japanese ex-soldier wins U.S. award for fight against sexual harassment
The U.S. will honor former Self-Defense Forces soldier Rina Gonoi with the International Women of Courage Award.
A U.S. B-52 bomber conducts joint training with Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighter jets on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 2, 2024
Japanese fighter jets and U.S. bombers train over Sea of Japan and East China Sea
The joint exercises over the two waterways were seen as a show of deterrence to both Beijing and Pyongyang.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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