Author: Defenceline Webdesk

SINGAPORE — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today heaped praise on US allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific for stepping up defense spending and improving their capabilities, saying that peace and prosperity in the region must be underwritten through strength from the US and its regional allies.  However, he notably did not reference Taiwan by name during his speech at the opening plenary at the Shangri-la Dialogue security conference in Singapore, instead emphasizing that the US was working towards a durable balance of power in the region where no one country can dominate.  Hegseth cast that view as shared by regional…

The Pakistan Navy (PN) operates three Khalid-class submarines — PNS/M Khalid (S137), PNS/M Saad (S138), and PNS/M Hamza (S139) — based on the French Agosta 90B design. Built under a contract signed in September 1994 between the Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP) and DCN International (now Naval Group), the program was valued at approximately $950 million and included a phased transfer of technology (ToT) to Pakistan’s Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KSEW). The contract was signed during Benazir Bhutto’s second government, which chose the French Agosta 90B over competing bids from Germany (Type 209), Sweden, and Russia — a decision…

Indonesia’s conservative Aceh Province has once again carried out a mass public caning. On May 12, the Southeast Aceh Prosecutor’s Office punished some 15 convicts by flogging the group with over 200 strokes of the rattan cane collectively. It was the highest number of strokes meted out in a single session in the regency, and signaled that Sharia punishments in Aceh continue to be enacted by law enforcement with seemingly strong public support. Of the 15 offenders, only one was a woman, yet she received the harshest penalty of all – 100 strokes of the cane after she was found…

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) is exploring the establishment of a mega shipyard in Maharashtra, a move that would significantly expand India’s warship and submarine production capacity.This initiative complements the state’s ambitious ₹4,150 Crores United Sadhav Integrated Maritime Complex in Palghar, designed to transform the coastal belt into a global shipbuilding and repair hub.Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, India’s premier defence shipyard, is actively evaluating the construction of a large-scale shipyard in Maharashtra. The proposed facility is intended to boost the production of advanced warships and submarines, strengthening India’s maritime defence infrastructure and reducing reliance on foreign shipbuilders.This expansion aligns with…

Until recently, Gen. Frank Donovan ran the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, the white-hot center of the Pentagon’s drive for affordable mass and battlefield robots. Now he’s in charge of U.S. Southern Command, which is working hard to put the DAWG’s products to use. Defense One sat down with Donovan during SOF Week in Tampa. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.Q: You’re an expert in autonomous warfare, as a former leader of the DAWG—for which a nearly unimaginable $50 billion has been requested in the next fiscal year. How do you want to develop and use it at…

The Pakistan Navy (PN) is building an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) capability as part of a broader push toward unmanned maritime systems. The program is in its early stages compared to the PN’s manned submarine fleet, but the evidence base is growing: Pakistani companies have demonstrated AUV prototypes at defence exhibitions, the PN leadership has publicly committed to pursuing uncrewed systems across surface, sub-surface, and airborne domains, and foreign defence suppliers are actively pitching AUV and unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) solutions to the PN. As Quwa’s exclusive reporting on how local startups are arming the Pakistan Navy documented in January…

On May 24, Pakistani and Chinese officials, business leaders and investors gathered in Hangzhou, in China’s Zhejiang province, for the Pakistan-China B2B (Business-to-Business) Investment Conference. More than 500 leading enterprises from both countries attended the event, where Islamabad and Beijing signed several new Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). The Pakistan-China B2B investment conferences are a series of meetings between the two countries to enhance strategic and economic ties through tech and other sector-specific partnerships. The first conference was held in Shenzhen in June 2024, which resulted in several commercial agreements. Over 600 Chinese companies participated in the second conference in September…

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles is scheduled to visit India next week to hold talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as part of the second Australia-India Defence Ministers’ Dialogue.This meeting will mark another significant step in the strengthening of bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries. The dialogue follows the inaugural edition held in Australia last October, reflecting the growing momentum in the India-Australia defence partnership.Mr. Marles’ visit to India will take place after his participation in the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, one of the Indo-Pacific region’s most prominent defence and security forums organised by…

Jerome W. Mapp, RCDefense When governments cannot provide basic stability, extremist organizations exploit the vacuum. Source link

The Pakistan Navy (PN) operates two Agosta 70 diesel-electric submarines — PNS/M Hashmat (S-135) and PNS/M Hurmat (S-136). These boats were not originally built for Pakistan. They were constructed by Dubigeon-Normandie at Nantes, France, in the late 1970s for the South African Navy, designated SAS Astrant and SAS Adventurous respectively. The sale was blocked by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 of November 1977, which imposed a mandatory arms embargo on South Africa. France subsequently sold both boats to Pakistan, with PNS/M Hashmat commissioned on 17 February 1979 and PNS/M Hurmat on 18 February 1980. (Wikipedia — PNS Hashmat;…