Sea state China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, known as the Type 001A, has sailed into the South China Sea. The Chinese navy says the vessel is there to conduct ‘scientific tests and routine drills’. …
In many ways, the American label of ‘great wall of sand’ that was applied to the artificial islands in the South China Sea encapsulates a key element of Chinese thinking. The same desire to protect …
The world Kicking us off in the US, the second impeachment hearing has dropped a bombshell on a key part of President Donald Trump’s defence. The US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, has …
The beat Italian police recover ancient treasure trove Officers from a unit of the Italian Carabinieri have arrested 23 people involved in trafficking stolen archaeological artefacts. With support from police in the UK, Germany, France …
In a recent interview with The Economist, French President Emmanuel Macron presented his geopolitical vision of the European Union’s future. In the process, he spoke of a ‘NATO brain death’, which sounded to many like …
Further graphic revelations have emerged about how the Chinese state under General Secretary Xi Jinping is using its power against its own people and in the world in ways that are against Australia’s—and many other …
Sea state The European Union has announced 13 new projects to be funded under its Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) initiative. Two focus on naval defence: the first involves developing a new class of military ship, …
In my previous post, I examined whether the B-21 bomber being developed by the US Air Force could be a viable long-range strike option for Australia. It would provide our air force with immense capability. …
Sea state The Australian government has gifted a Guardian-class patrol boat, the RSIPV Gizo, to the Solomon Islands. It’s the fifth Guardian-class boat that Austal Australia has delivered to the Australian Department of Defence under …
ASPI’s Catherine McGregor has highlighted the concerns of two former air force chiefs that there’s an urgent capability gap in the Australian Defence Force’s order of battle—an absence of credible long-range strike capability for the …
Sea state Australia and South Korea have held their annual joint naval exercise. Code-named ‘Haedori-Wallaby’, the drills included joint manoeuvres and firing exercises, and involved six ships, six aircraft and a submarine on the Korean …
In part 4 of this series, I looked at how deploying from offshore airbases would allow the F-35A to operate relatively far away from Australia in areas that are strategically important to us. However, this …