While new books offer topicality, occasionally it pays to revisit the classics for a reality check on the essentials of continuity and change. Published 60 years ago, TB Millar’s Australia’s Defence is one such seminal …
Writing in The Strategist three years ago, I made the then-provocative assertion that the Philippines could be Australia’s most important defence partner in Southeast Asia. Fast forward to 2025, and the Philippines is now more …
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has pulled off a diplomatic coup by persuading US President Donald Trump not only to assist South Korea’s nuclear submarine ambitions but to abandon decades of US resistance to …
Nervous AUKUS-watchers in Australia probably felt a mix of emotions when the defence technologies initiative was raised in public during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Washington this month. President Donald Trump’s ‘full steam ahead’ …
One doesn’t need to be a sceptic of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to question whether its much vaunted ‘centrality’ as a regional organisation has value beyond rhetoric. Three big meetings will be …
Britain has had an aircraft carrier strike group in the Indo-Pacific since May, raising an obvious question: what would its two carriers do in the event of an Indo-Pacific war? The best answer is escorting …
On the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, there is renewed focus on nuclear weapons in international security. China and other nuclear-armed states within Australia’s extended region are expanding their arsenals, with little …
Australia and Indonesia can no longer afford to treat hybrid threats as an afterthought. From cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns to economic coercion and grey-zone coercion at sea, these challenges are already reshaping the Indo-Pacific’s security …
A freedom-of-navigation activity that the Australian and British navies jointly conducted near the Spratly Islands last month was notable. It was the first they’d done together, following a joint Australia and New Zealand transit of …
‘We’re having to reconsider Australia as a homeland from which we will conduct combat operations’, the chief of the defence force, Admiral David Johnston, surprised some listeners by saying at ASPI’s annual defence conference on …
The Trump administration has ordered a review of AUKUS to be led by Undersecretary of Defense Policy Elbridge Colby. The review has some attendant risks, but also a potential upside for the three-way partnership. The …
German shipbuilder TKMS has significantly increased its chances in Canberra’s frigate competition by partnering with Saab, an entrenched supplier of crucial equipment for Australian warships. This challenges widespread assumptions that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is …











