Tag - defense

 
 

DEFENSE

Philippine Army Brig. Gen. Michael Logico, who was involved in managing the latest iteration of the Balikatan U.S.-Philippine drills, told The Japan Times that he expects military ties with Japan to surge even further once Tokyo ratifies a key visiting-forces agreement with Manila.
JAPAN
May 12, 2025
Japan set for bigger role in Philippines after SDF’s debut in key drills
A top Philippine general has said he expects the Self-Defense Forces’ involvement in both bilateral and multilateral activities to grow substantially.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte delivers remarks during a news conference at alliance headquarters in Brussels on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2025
NATO chief said to seek defense spending at 5% of GDP by 2032
U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded that NATO allies ramp up their military spending to 5% of GDP, a level that not even the United States currently hits.
French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pose after signing the French-Polish Friendship and Strategy Pact following their meeting at the Nancy's town hall on Stanislas square in Nancy, eastern France, on Friday.
WORLD
May 10, 2025
Poland edges toward pact on French nuclear-missile shield
A treaty signed Friday includes a pledge of mutual military assistance in an event of an armed conflict and extends into defense industry cooperation.
The Indian Air Force's Rafale fighter jets. India and Pakistan aircraft engaged in a dogfight on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 9, 2025
Global militaries to study India-Pakistan fighter jet battle
This week's dogfight is a rare opportunity for militaries to study the performance of pilots, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles in active combat.
A J-10C fighter jet
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2025
Pakistan hails role of Chinese jets in repelling India strikes
Hostilities between India and Pakistan have escalated since an April 22 attack that killed 26 civilians in the Indian-controlled part of the territory.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervises a missile test on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 9, 2025
North Korea's Kim leads missile test and stresses nuclear force readiness
The test also included an inspection of the operational reliability of its "nuclear trigger" system, state-run media said.
Joseph S. Nye (center), an advocate of stronger U.S.-Japan relations and father of "soft power," died Tuesday at the age of 88.
JAPAN / Politics
May 8, 2025
Joseph Nye, advocate of stronger U.S.-Japan relations, dies at 88
The former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, known for coining the term "soft power," coauthored reports that influenced the direction of U.S.-Japan ties.
People walk past a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main train station in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 8, 2025
North Korea fires off multiple short-range missiles from east coast
One of the missiles had traveled 800 kilometers, Japan's Defense Ministry said, nearly falling inside the country's exclusive economic zone.
Veterans in France. For over a dozen NATO members, pensions make up a large — and largely overlooked — chunk of their defense budgets.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 8, 2025
Europe's costly military pensions complicate defense buildup
For over a dozen NATO members, pensions make up a large — and largely overlooked — chunk of their defense budgets.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong in Hanoi on April 28. Ishiba’s visit to Vietnam and the Philippines highlighted Japan’s enduring Indo-Pacific strategy amid rising regional uncertainty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 8, 2025
Japan’s durable 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific' strategy brings stability
So while Ishiba’s visit to Southeast Asia may have just seemed like another round of trips during a holiday week, they were emblematic of something much more than that.
U.S. Army Pacific commander Gen. Ronald Clark tours the force's Materiel Support Command-Korea at Camp Carroll in Waegwan, South Korea, on April 9.
JAPAN
May 7, 2025
U.S. Army looks to deploy agile new unit to Japan for exercises
The Pentagon has already established three such formations in strategic locations worldwide and is planning two more over the next two to three years.
Sailors inspect an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Arabian Sea in 2020. An F-18 fighter jet tipped off the flight deck of the carrier into the Red Sea on Tuesday.
WORLD
May 7, 2025
Another fighter jet falls into sea from U.S. aircraft carrier
An F-18 tipped off the flight deck of the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier into the Red Sea on Tuesday, the second such incident in about a week.
Kashmiri children sit on a bench at a marketplace as an Indian paramilitary soldier keeps guard along a street in Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday. Tensions between the nuclear-armed archrivals have soared since India accused Pakistan of backing a shooting that killed 26 civilians on the Indian side of the disputed territory on April 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
May 6, 2025
With militaries upgraded, risks multiply in any potential India-Pakistan conflict
Pakistan says India plans a military incursion after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for a deadly attack on domestic tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth awaits the arrival of Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister Elmer Schialer and Peruvian Defense Minister Walter Astudillo at the Pentagon in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2025
U.S. defense chief to slash top ranks of military
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday ordered a 20% reduction in the number of four-star officers at the Pentagon.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (right) stands alongside his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, during a ceremonial reception in New Delhi on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 6, 2025
Japan and India to set up new consultation defense cooperation framework
The two countries' defense chiefs have also agreed on a plan to look at how Japan can help India develop fighter jets and tanks, including by exporting engines.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in a video message on Saturday to a gathering of people in Tokyo who support revising the Constitution.
JAPAN / Society
May 4, 2025
Rallies held on Japan's Constitution Day
Citizens opposed to revising Japan's Constitution rallied in Koto Ward, while advocates of a constitutional amendment held an event in Chiyoda Ward.
Unlike past U.S. presidents who demanded that adversaries curb subversion before improving ties, Donald Trump and his administration are dismantling America’s defenses against foreign meddling without securing anything in return — leaving the country vulnerable.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2025
Why is Trump unilaterally dismantling U.S. defenses?
Trump may reorganize agencies within the law, but his sweeping cuts to national security defies 2,000 years of great powers using deterrence and diplomacy to manage threats.
U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, delivers remarks on the advanced F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet in the Oval Office on March 21. 

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as an image of an F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet is displayed, in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2025
The F-47 fighter jet and Trump’s air dominance gamble
The U.S.' announcement signals a shift toward the pursuit of nuclear superiority — which history shows will weaken deterrence and increase the likelihood of nuclear crises.
Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, speaks with troops in Jhelum, Punjab province, on Thursday. A deadly terrorist attack last month in Indian-administered Kashmir has sharply escalated tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan and raised fears of a broader conflict.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2025
Kashmir terror attack pushes India and Pakistan to the brink of war
Indian police said that two of the three suspects were Pakistani nationals and identified them as “LeT terrorists.”
People take part in the European Defense Tech Hub hackathon in Amsterdam on March 28.
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2025
Mission before money: How Europe's defense startups are luring AI talent
A sense of patriotism stirred by the war in Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump's upending of security alliances is a motivation for many.

Longform

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