The US Air Force just revealed that it was launching a study of a new heavy bomber that might replace the Boeing B-52. The analysis of alternatives in the FY27 budget will look at ‘future …
China’s influence in Solomon Islands is likely to weather the accession to power on 15 May of a prime minister who’s less favourable to it than his predecessor. While Australia has improved its relationship with …
Southeast Asian countries looking for security against China should shift the weight of their defence spending to deploying highly mobile, mostly inexpensive equipment that it would struggle to counter. These would be strike missiles, cheap …
Late in April, a batch of American-made M1A2 Abrams tanks arrived by sea in the Port of Taipei. The 28 M1A2s are the last of 108 Abrams tanks that Taiwan bought from the United States …
Spyware, once primarily used by intelligence agencies and nation-states, has become a tool of intimate partner abuse, quietly deployed against people – mostly women – who have no idea they are being watched. In an …
Australian defence policy focuses too much on the risk of high-intensity, mostly conventional conflict at large cost to capabilities for peacekeeping and humanitarian support, its most likely military operations. Many costly new equipment priorities, such …
Litigation by the Chinese lessee of Darwin Port is an attempt at stymying the Australian government’s stated aim of returning the facility to Australian control. The case started at the World Bank is no mere …
The lesson of Anthropic’s new Claude Mythos AI model, with potent hacking capabilities, is becoming clear: in the era of increasingly powerful AI, national security priorities will prevail. Countries like Australia can’t assume they’ll always …
Supply chains built for efficiency are colliding with a world defined by disruption. In this context, Australia now faces a structural challenge in securing critical inputs such as fuel and fertiliser. Government, industry and consumers …
The mission of the US Central Intelligence Agency is extremely hazardous, writes Tim Weiner in his July 2025 book, The Mission: the CIA in the 21st century. Collecting intelligence runs many risks and can test …
Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are meeting in Beijing on May 14 and 15 for the first time in more than six months. It’s Trump’s first visit to China since 2017. The two leaders …
The Arctic is no longer a distant sideshow. It is becoming a contested strategic arena, and Indo-Pacific states should start treating it that way. What happens in the High North will increasingly affect global trade, …
Southeast Asian governments are failing to respond as a bloc to the severe disruption in oil, gas and commercial shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam have each moved to …
About A$17.4 billion of the Australian government’s promised A$53 billion increase in headline defence spending over the next 10 years remains uncertain. Of the uplift promised by the National Defence Strategy (NDS) a month ago …
Strategists in Canberra should factor in the plausible risk of Russian participation in a Western Pacific conflict, especially action by Russian submarines. Russia has modernised its Pacific submarines and has a clear reason for using …
The Taiwanese legislature’s curtailing of a defence acquisition budget on 8 May has impeded the government’s attempts at building a porcupine defence system and has damaged the island’s strategic credibility just as President Donald Trump …
Supply ships are increasingly vulnerable. Navies need numerous small and remotely controlled or autonomous vessels to move material through the most dangerous part of the delivery chain, between large ships held at distance and forces …
Australia’s 2026 National Defence Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Program (IIP) demonstrate a stronger commitment to cyber defence and capability. They reinforce that cyber for Defence is not just about securing networks but also about …
The Australian government’s decision to curtail the Inland Rail Project was politically brave. Governments rarely walk away from troubled megaprojects once billions have been spent and expectations have hardened. Yet the real issue sits well …
Most Australians already know something is wrong with our information environment. An Australian National University survey of 20,000 average Australians found disinformation consistently ranked among top national security concerns. Participants rated it as more serious …