Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

U.S. military aid is unloaded from a plane near Kyiv in 2022 as part of the security support package for Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 28, 2023
U.S. releases final package of authorized military aid for Ukraine
The package includes air-defense and artillery munitions, the State Department said in a statement.
An image from Dec. 9 appears to show the Russian container ship Angara, sanctioned by the U.S., unloading cargo at Najin port while containers from North Korea await loading at an adjacent pier.
WORLD
Dec 27, 2023
Ghost ships at reawakened North Korea port put Ukraine in peril
The vessels are suspected to be delivering arms to Russia that eventually make their way to the frontlines of Vladimir Putin's invasion.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida reviews Japan Self-Defense Forces troops at Camp Asaka in Tokyo in November 2021.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 27, 2023
Reviewing Japan's security moves in 2023
With Japan's economic malaise and scandals eroding political capital in Tokyo, 2024 may yield an extended waiting period for new security measures.
Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2023
Japan must further ease arms export rules, ex-defense chief says
Itsunori Onodera said he would press ahead with ruling coalition discussions on broadening the scope of allowable exports.
Self-Defense Forces soldiers take part in an evacuation drill on Yonaguni island in Okinawa Prefecture in November.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 22, 2023
Japan approves record ¥8 trillion defense budget
The defense budget announced Friday includes ¥370 billion to build two new warships that will utilize the U.S.-developed Aegis missile defense system.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2023
Japan cuts spending for first time in 12 years in fiscal 2024 budget
The budget for the coming fiscal year that starts in April is estimated at ¥112.07 trillion, down 2% from the current year's initial amount.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hold discussions in Kyiv in September 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2023
Europe needs a new Ukraine strategy
The European Union’s decision to start accession talks with Ukraine represents a symbolic victory rather than a practical one.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2023
In major shift, Japan eases rules on exporting defense gear
The policy change could see Japan make its first export of lethal military equipment as early as next year.
A U.S. Steel coke works in Clairton, Pennsylvania
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2023
A steel deal that’s good for Japan and the U.S.
Nippon Steel’s announcement that it plans to purchase U.S. Steel has triggered an uproar in the United States.
Some analysts say China seeks ambiguity in defense relations to constrain what Beijing sees as U.S. military provocations in the region.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 22, 2023
U.S. and China top brass speak for first time in over a year
U.S. Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown and Gen. Liu Zhenli of China's People's Liberation Army touched on "a number of global and regional security issues."
Shoppers at a market in Kyiv on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2023
With Ukraine’s aid in doubt, companies say they’re the Plan B
Ukrainian companies making products are ensuring their survival while contributing to the war effort.
A PAC-3 surface-to-air guided missile at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo in June
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 20, 2023
Japan may make U.S. PAC-3 missiles in first weapon deal after ban
The missiles, made under license from a U.S. company, would be the first weapons to be exported in finished form from Japan after the ban is eased.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting near Moscow on Dec. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 20, 2023
U.S. allies brace for high cost of defeat as Ukraine aid stalls
Russian victory in Ukraine would be felt around the world as U.S. partners and allies questioned Washington’s promises of defense.
Buildings in Xiamen on mainland China across the Taiwan Strait from anti-landing barriers on a beach in Kinmen, Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 20, 2023
Taiwan’s ability to defend against Chinese invasion questioned
For all the support given by Washington, the reality is that when it comes to both civil and military defense, Taiwan still has a lot to do.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2023
Diplomats gird for 'doomsday' as prospect of Trump presidency looms
If he were to win a second term, Trump is likely to install loyalists — meaning his whims and isolationist policies would be easier to enact than before.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg meet during a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 19, 2023
NATO's delicate balancing act in the Indo-Pacific
Japan and NATO are already working together on new technologies and on efforts to safeguard the new domains of cyber, outer space and other vectors.
A mobile missile launcher awaits the order to fire a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile from an undisclosed location in North Korea in this undated picture released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 19, 2023
Japan, South Korea, U.S. begin sharing real-time data on North Korean missiles
The data-sharing system was activated as Pyongyang confirmed that it tested a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile a day earlier.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right), Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (left) and Finland's Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen sign a defense cooperation agreement in the Treaty Room of the U.S. State Department in Washington on Dec. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2023
Finland bolsters military ties with U.S. after Putin warning
The Defense Cooperation Agreement formalizes greater ties with the United States, including joint training of forces and military interoperability.
F-16s will help Kyiv address a problem that has persisted from the start of the invasion in February 2022: Russia’s more modern combat aircraft have been difficult for Ukraine’s military to counter with its own aging fighters.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2023
How F-16 fighter jets could reshape Ukraine's aerial battlefield
Russia’s more modern combat aircraft have been difficult for Ukraine’s military to counter with its own aging fighters.
ASEAN leaders and their spouses release paper lanterns into the air with students from ASEAN member states during a lighting ceremony for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit at Azabudai Hills in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 18, 2023
With China in mind, Japan expands security ties with ASEAN
At a leaders summit, the two sides agreed to deepen security ties in areas such as defense equipment and joint training and exercises.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past