For more than a decade, commentators, analysts and industry have warned Australian governments about fuel vulnerability. Yet little has changed. Despite repeated reviews and rising geopolitical tensions, there has been little concrete action to strengthen …
The idea of South Korea developing nuclear weapons is reaching critical mass, if you’ll excuse the pun. Surveys show as much as 70 percent of the public now in favor. There has also been plenty …
Germany’s decision to permanently station a combat brigade in Lithuania is more than a military deployment. It’s a strategic signal that Berlin is finally ready to lead from the front. The foreign basing, which began …
‘Australia is secure when Papua New Guinea is secure, and Papua New Guinea is secure when Australia is secure,’ said Billy Joseph, PNG’s Minister for Defence. It was an important reminder of the closeness of …
‘High-tech trench warfare’ was an oxymoron—until Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On Ukraine’s battlefields, Cold War artillery meets 21st-century innovation. Shells fall while AI-enabled drones swarm the air, land and sea. In the …
Launched in early 2024 by Britain and France, the Pall Mall Process is one of two global initiatives aiming to set norms to prevent the harmful proliferation of commercial spyware. But unless the process becomes …
The world is entering a new golden age of transnational crime, and Australia is on its path. While the United States sharpens its focus on border control, fentanyl seizures and immigration crises, its long-standing global …
The US strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities has ended 10 days of uncertainty and signalled a shift in the Middle East’s strategic dynamic. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tempered his rhetoric on …
In the week when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met counterparts at the G7 summit in Ottawa, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto went to St Petersburg to deepen ties with Vladimir Putin. The optics of the two …
Machines alone don’t create an ability to fight a war. Recognising this, the Australian Defence Organisation classifies equipment as just one ‘fundamental input to capability’—alongside such things as people, training and supplies, all of which …
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2023–24 Defence Industry Account has made clear that the Department of Defence is not just a strategic actor; it’s an economic institution with national and regional influence. But the data …
Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating argues that Defence Minister Richard Marles has ceded power to the US in a ‘dark moment’ by confirming that Australia’s geography would be crucial to the US in any war …
Among all the uncertainties of the Israel-Iran conflict, two things are clear: a nuclearised Iran is a threat to global security; and Tehran will not give up its nuclear program easily. What’s less clear is …
‘Sovereignty’ is one of the most frequently invoked and most poorly understood terms in Australian strategic debate. It dominates arguments against AUKUS, US military presence in Australia, and our deepening alliance with Washington, yet it …
Artificial-intelligence computing infrastructure is more critical to Australia’s strategic future than developing sovereign AI models. The country should indeed aim at becoming a dependable computing hub for its allies. Markets forecast that AI systems could …
Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web has fundamentally redefined the nature of drone warfare and highlighted just how vulnerable Australia’s precious cache of exquisite systems truly is. The 1 June operation’s ingenious use of small, cheap, commercial …
China’s first in-person meeting with Pacific island foreign ministers demonstrated Beijing’s willingness to talk the talk with little substance to back it up. But in a time of regional uncertainty, Pacific leaders showed they were …
In Jakarta, decision makers are gradually convincing themselves to buy Chinese J-10 fighters, viewing the possible order as a step in defence modernisation. But it would be a misstep. The J-10, while a capable aircraft, …
Despite early hopes, machine vision has not yet become a game-changing feature of Ukraine’s battlefield drones. But its time will come. The technology, a form of AI, allows drones to identify and strike targets autonomously. …
Current conflicts have overturned how air power is applied. Air forces should no longer be built solely around crewed aircraft. A different balance is required. The use of drones in very large numbers in the …