Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara is expected to hold bilateral talks with  his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik, during the Shangri-La Dialogue to be held in Singapore from May 31.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2024
Tokyo and Seoul to bolster defense ties with deal to prevent radar row repeat
The two neighbors' defense ministers hope to use an agreement to kick-start their defense relationship, which has been in limbo since the incident.
U.S. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a news briefing at the White House in Washington on April 24.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024
U.S. and Saudi Arabia nearing deal on defense pact, White House says
The deal offers Riyadh access to advanced U.S. weaponry, potentially including F-35 fighter jets and artificial intelligence, in return for limiting ties with Beijing.
The modernization of Japan's defense strategy is not just about military capabilities, it is also about building consensus and fostering public understanding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2024
The winding road to Japan's defense modernization
The government's efforts to engage the public on defense issues are crucial for building consensus and ensuring the sustainability of defense reforms.
Russia's Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia addresses the Security Council during a meeting on the maintenance of International Peace and Security Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024
Russia fails in rival U.N. bid on nuclear and other weapons in space
The draft failed to get the minimum nine votes needed: seven members voted in favor and seven against, while one abstained.
Group of Seven leaders, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden, after visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 19, 2023
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 19, 2024
G7 goal of nuclear-free world increasingly challenged
Momentum for nuclear disarmament has not increased, partly because Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons in its military aggression against Ukraine.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, fire a M777 howitzer toward Russian troops near a front line, in Ukraine's Donetsk region on May 1.
WORLD / FOCUS
May 19, 2024
Ukraine struggles to hold eastern front as Russians advance on cities
The drive has marked an inflection point in the conflict spawned by Russia's full-scale invasion more than two years ago.
Philippine Coast Guard personnel work as the 97-meter coast guard multirole response vessel, the BRP Melchora Aquino, arrives from Japan at the international port in Manila in June 2020.
JAPAN / Politics
May 18, 2024
Philippines to buy five patrol boats from Japan amid South China Sea tensions
Deliveries of the just announced five ships are expected to take place between 2027 and 2028.
A tactical ballistic missile with a new autonomous navigation system is test-fired at an undisclosed location in North Korea in this image released Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 18, 2024
North Korea confirms missile launch and vows bolstered nuclear force
North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a "new autonomous navigation system," state media said Saturday.
The U.S. military's secretive X-37B, a crewless space shuttle-like space plane, lifts off on its seventh mission to orbit, the vehicle's first launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of lofting it far higher than ever before, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, last December.
WORLD
May 18, 2024
New star wars plan: Pentagon rushes to counter threats in orbit
Citing rapid advances by China and Russia, the United States is building an extensive capacity to fight battles in space.
People talk as smoke billows from a nearby strike on industrial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Friday.
WORLD
May 18, 2024
Ukraine asks U.S. to provide more intelligence on targets in Russia
American officials say they do not want U.S. weapons used in cross-border attacks or intelligence reports used to strike inside Russia.
Internally displaced women wait to collect aid at a camp in Gadaref, Sudan, last Sunday. Clashes reignited between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitaries earlier this week in the key Darfur town of al-Fashir.
WORLD / Politics
May 17, 2024
Residents cower as fighting picks up in Sudan's al-Fashir
The city is the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the western Darfur region.
The Defense Ministry has signed a contract with the United States to jointly develop the so-called Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI).
JAPAN
May 16, 2024
Japan and U.S. sign agreement to develop hypersonic missile interceptor
The plan was first announced in August when the leaders of the two countries met in Camp David outside Washington.
Members of Taiwan's Navy and media onboard a special operation boat navigate near a Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat, during part of a demonstration for the media to show combat readiness ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, on the waters near a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Jan. 31.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 14, 2024
U.S. and Taiwan navies quietly held Pacific drills in April
The exercises, which were not publicized and involved "multiple military assets," took place last month in the Western Pacific, according to sources.
A new era in Japan-U.S. military cooperation is set to begin after Japan's parliament enacted new laws to establish a joint command headquarters for the nation’s Self-Defense Forces.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 14, 2024
Let the real work on Japan’s defense modernization begin
Scheduled to go into effect in March 2025, the Japan Joint Operations Command will centralize command of the country’s military services.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga destroyer has undergone the first stage of modifications to turn it into a de facto aircraft carrier for F-35B stealth fighter jets.
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
May 13, 2024
MSDF’s Kure base expanding mission as it marks 70th anniversary
The unit has increased its activities not only in national defense, but also in disaster relief operations and overseas missions.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu salutes to soldiers as he is driven along Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2024
Russia's Shoigu: Political survivor blamed for Ukraine setbacks
He had a decadeslong political career of unmatched longevity in post-Soviet Russia, his presence in the center of Moscow predating that of Putin himself.
Philippine and U.S. Marines watch as a projectile hits a target at sea during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the annual joint military drills, on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast, on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 11, 2024
U.S. builds web of arms, ships and bases in the Pacific to deter China
With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow on April 11.
WORLD
May 11, 2024
Satellite images reveal where Russian nukes could be stored in Belarus
A New York Times analysis shows security upgrades unique to Russian nuclear storage facilities at a Cold War-era munitions depot.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 11, 2024
Israel may have violated international law, U.S. report says
The Biden administration said Israel may have violated international law, but it won’t stop the flow of weapons and bombs to a key ally.
Israeli soldiers walk amid military vehicles near the Israel-Gaza Border, in southern Israel, on Thursday. Washington has long urged the Israeli government not to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip without safeguards for civilians.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2024
Israel due to get more U.S. weapons despite Biden pause
A range of military equipment worth billions of dollars, some in the works since December, remain in the pipeline as a result of a slow approval process.

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