Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

An unmanned Hamadori drone developed by Japanese company Space Entertainment Laboratory and equipped with various sensor options for surveys is displayed at the Japan Drone 2020 exhibition at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba in September 2020.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2025
Japan exploring drone production capabilities for military aid program
Tokyo has begun asking local firms about their capabilities to determine which systems it could provide under the next tranche of security assistance in fiscal 2025 and beyond.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2025
Ishiba builds inroads with Trump, but challenges still loom
Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold sails in the front of a formation with the Philippine Navy Jose Rizal-class frigate BRP Jose Rizal (center), the Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart (left) and the Maritime Defense Force Akizuki-class destroyer Akizuki, during a multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity exercise in the South China Sea last Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 10, 2025
Calls grow louder for joint maritime patrols near Philippine hot spots
Some want Manila to consider joint coast guard and naval patrols near Chinese government vessels operating in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks as he welcomes Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles to the Pentagon for talks in Washington on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 9, 2025
Trump aware and supportive of AUKUS pact, U.S. defense secretary says
The remarks by U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth came as he hosted his first foreign counterpart since his confirmation, Australia's Richard Marles.
The Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (center) attends a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2025
Japan's Cabinet approves legislation on 'active' cybersecurity
The new measures aim to enable the government to infiltrate the sources of cyberattacks in order to neutralize them.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump will likely aim at maintaining the status quo, avoid new trade issues and ensure Japan isn’t targeted by tariffs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2025
A new golden age for U.S.-Japan? I don’t think so.
Ishiba won’t be looking for any great breakthrough, a dramatic defense re-posturing, or support for any of his long-held foreign policy goals
A representative from the prosecutor's office shows parts of an unidentified missile, which Ukrainian authorities believe to be made in North Korea, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 6.
WORLD
Feb 6, 2025
Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia's North Korean missiles
The increase in accuracy — to within 50-100m of the intended target — suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 6, 2025
With Ishiba-Trump meet, Tokyo hopes to keep ties on even keel
Tokyo has been scrambling for ways to placate the U.S. leader, and head off any dust-up between the allies during Friday’s meeting.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro says Manila's moves to beef up deterrence — including continuing to have a powerful U.S. missile system deployed on its territory — “are for the protection of our territorial integrity and sovereignty."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
Philippines all in to get its own midrange missile system
The plan, as disclosed by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, comes amid Chinese pressure to remove a powerful U.S. weapons system from its territory.
Google's vow to not use AI for weapons or surveillance have been removed from its guidelines.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025
Google pledge against using AI for weapons vanishes
The revised principles were posted just weeks after Google chief executive Sundar Pichai attended the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Norwegian soldiers and U.S. Marines work together during a military exercise in Finnmark, Norway, on March 10, 2024.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2025
NATO scrambles for drones that can survive the Arctic
Governments in the world's far north are seeking to overcome the challenge of flying drones in cold, icy weather as the region comes into the geopolitical spotlight.
A map of the South China Sea is shown during a Philippine Coast Guard mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, claimed by both the Philippines and China. Each country has its own name for this area, signaling the use of toponyms to stake territorial rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2025
What’s in a name? In the South China Sea, a whole lot.
In the South China Sea, disputed territories have been given different names by the states vying for them. Will Trump's moves thousands of miles away validate this approach?
Olaf Scholz beside a Lockheed Martin F-35 jet.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2025
Germany rethinks separation of civilian and military research
The debate centers on civil clauses — widely used policies at major research institutions that restrict collaboration with the defense industry.
Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers perform a flypast during the victory day parade in Moscow in June 2020.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025
Japan scrambles jets as Russian bombers fly over high seas
Russia reportedly announced that its long-range strategic bombers flew over international waters in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program's fighter jet is displayed at the DSEI Japan defense show at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba in March 2023.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 31, 2025
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss bringing Saudi Arabia into jet project
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said Italy is in favor of Saudi Arabia joining the joint development of a new sixth-generation fighter jet.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani speaks to reporters at the parliamentary building on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025
Top U.S. and Japan defense officials agree to beef up military ties
The newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, confirmed that the U.S.-Japan defense treaty covers the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a joint news conference in Helsinki on July 16, 2018
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Analysts are skeptical about U.S. and Russia's nuclear talks
Moscow, in particular, seems to have no interest in reducing its arsenal of nuclear warheads as its invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth year next month.
A U.S. Marine provides water to Afghan families during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2025
Abandoning Afghans who worked with us troops is shameful
The urgency is driven by a simple fact: The Afghans who helped us, along with their family members, are considered traitors by the ruling Taliban.
China-backed hackers are increasingly targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, including energy grids, telecom networks and government agencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2025
Trump’s bigger China cyber threat isn’t TikTok
China-backed hackers are infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure, telecom networks and government systems, exposing vulnerabilities that demand stronger cybersecurity measures.
With China's growing military threat against Taiwan, experts argue that real deterrence — such as increased training ties with Japan, the U.S. and other nations — may be necessary to prevent an invasion and protect regional stability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2025
How to secure Taiwan as drumbeats of a looming invasion grow louder
It is high time to get creative for real deterrence to protect the democratic island.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan