Author: Defenceline Webdesk

On May 1, cybersecurity researchers at Trend Micro disclosed a previously undocumented China-aligned espionage campaign that has infiltrated government and defense networks across much of Asia. Tracked as Shadow-Earth-053, the operation has been active since at least December 2024, and it has targeted ministries and contractors in Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan, as well as one European NATO member, Poland, along with journalists and diaspora activists. What distinguishes this campaign from most other China-aligned cyber operations is its dual focus: one track pursued traditional intelligence collection against Asian governments and defense entities, while a parallel track,…

India has reached a defining milestone in its journey towards defence self‑reliance, with more than 65 per cent of its defence equipment now manufactured domestically. This marks a decisive shift from decades of high import dependency to a robust indigenous production base.The transformation has been driven by the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, rising procurement budgets amounting to ₹1.72 lakh crore in 2024‑25, and flagship projects such as BrahMos and Akash which have become symbols of India’s technological maturity and operational credibility.The surge in indigenous production has been remarkable. Defence manufacturing touched ₹1.27 lakh crore in FY 2023‑24, representing a 16.7 per…

As intensifying China-U.S. competition reshapes global supply chains, Malaysia is finding it increasingly difficult to remain on the sidelines. A recent rare earths agreement between Australia’s Lynas Corporation and the U.S. Department of Defense has sparked domestic backlash, highlighting how middle powers like Malaysia are being drawn into strategic – and potentially military-linked – economic networks. Earlier, a coalition of 57 Malaysian civil society organizations issued a joint memorandum opposing the approximately $96 million rare earths supply deal between Lynas and the U.S. Department of Defense. The groups warned that the agreement could link rare earth processing operations in Malaysia…

Nepal has once again reiterated its claim over the Lipulekh region, calling for the resolution of the territorial issue through diplomatic channels with India.The renewed assertion comes in the wake of the recent opening of the route to the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage via Lipulekh Pass, which is scheduled to operate from June to August 2026 under the organisation of the Indian Government.At a press conference in Kathmandu, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri emphasised that Nepal’s claims are rooted in historical evidence and the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli. He stated that the treaty clearly demarcates territories east of…

Global Defense News The U.S. Air Force’s B-21 Raider stealth bomber has completed a major developmental flight test campaign in just 73 days instead of the planned 180 Source link

With its victories in the recent state assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or its alliance partners, are in power in all five Indian states that share a border with Bangladesh. This should make New Delhi’s task of implementing its Bangladesh policy an easy cake walk, since it will no longer attract opposition from the state governments. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean a reset in India-Bangladesh ties. In fact, a mismanaged hardline policy, lacking in nuance, could alienate Dhaka further, disincentivizing its present mood to repair ties with India. The new Bangladesh Nationalist Party…

On the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, India’s senior military leadership revealed unprecedented details of the tri-services campaign that followed the Pahalgam terror attack of April 2025.At a joint press briefing in Jaipur, Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti stated that Indian forces had struck 11 Pakistani airfields and destroyed 13 aircraft, including a high-value airborne asset at a record distance of more than 300 kilometres.He emphasised that Pakistan had failed to inflict any significant damage on Indian military or civilian infrastructure, noting that victory is measured by hard facts rather than rhetoric. He declined to…

Jeff Schogol & Matt White, T&P The Maverick Act would send three retired F-14D Tomcats to a museum in Alabama and possibly restore one to flight Source link

Shortly before Pakistan’s Joint Services Press Conference on May 7th, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a video outlining the major defence procurements, inductions, and organizational changes undertaken by the tri-services in the one year following the brief but intense conflict with India. While framed as discrete, individual programs, there is a unifying theme underpinning them all, from the new satellite launches to the missile tests to the drone factories. That theme is that since the May 2025 conflict, Pakistan has reworked its conventional deterrence efforts to strike at scale – irrespective of India’s capabilities. In other words, rather than…

From April 20 to 23, President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa paid a state visit to Kazakhstan, the first by a Mongolian head of state in two decades. He signed over a dozen intergovernmental agreements with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, addressed the Regional Ecological Summit in Astana alongside leaders from the Central Asian and Caucasus republics, and returned home with Kazakhstan’s highest civilian honor, the Altyn Qyran Order.  As a former Mongolian ambassador and a member of the accompanying delegation, I saw something larger taking shape over those four days. Mongolia’s foreign policy is no longer organized around two neighbors and a handful of…