Don’t underestimate the strength of Japan’s strategic transformation, above all in its hardening determination to face accumulating threats. The shift becomes clear to anyone who engages these days with Japanese officials and defence analysts, as …
It looks like Japan will finally cast aside its ban on hosting nuclear weapons—specifically, those of the United States. Moving towards action she called for last year, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is reviewing the three principles that have …
If all goes to plan, Australia will receive its first made-in-Japan frigate in 2029. The choice of the upgraded Mogami design of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, announced today, means the Royal Australian Navy will replace its …
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 …
It’s not just technical naval capability. Australia has persuasive geostrategic and industrial reasons for choosing Japan over Germany as its partner in building as many as 11 general-purpose frigates in a priority defence program. The …
China has recently made two provocative military incursions into Japanese territory in just a week, with a surveillance plane breaching airspace on 26 August and a survey ship entering territorial waters on 31 August. On …
The possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House has resuscitated debate about the reliability of the US alliance, including the nuclear protection Washington extends to Australia and other allies. Whoever wins the presidential …
Cooperating to strengthen Japan’s cyber defences and develop new offensive cyberweapons must be the first priority of any AUKUS collaboration involving Japan. Not only is this now key to Japan’s security, but it is a …
As Japan steps up military cooperation with the United States and Australia in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific, the Northern Territory is becoming strategically more important. From it, forces can reach into the Indian or Pacific …
The strategic potential of Submarine Rotational Force-West, the AUKUS initiative that commits the United States and United Kingdom to forward-deploy a small flotilla of nuclear-powered attack submarines to HMAS Stirling, near Fremantle, isn’t adequately appreciated. …
While helping negotiate the AUKUS agreement with the United States and Britain as defence minister in 2021, Peter Dutton regarded claims that Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) would contribute to a regional arms race as …
Defence cooperation between Australia and Japan has yet to find its top gear but, after a cautious start, that relationship is in pole position among Australia’s regional security partnerships. The road ahead may soon lead …











