Author: Defenceline Webdesk

In 2021, the world’s first Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) was announced at COP26 in Glasgow. Hailed as a breakthrough, an International Partners Group, consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, France and Germany, pledged $8.5 billion in climate finance to assist South Africa in its transition to clean energy. At the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia unveiled its own $20 billion JETP with a similar slate of partners. Vietnam followed a few months later with a $15.5 billion deal. (A smaller EUR 2.5 billion JETP with Senegal was announced in 2023 and a much larger one…

General Anil Chauhan has unveiled the Joint Air Defence Doctrine, a landmark step in India’s military modernisation.It establishes a unified framework for multi-layered air defence, enhancing integration among the Army, Navy and Air Force, while aligning with recent doctrinal advances in joint operations.The Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan formally released the Joint Air Defence Doctrine in New Delhi, marking a decisive stride towards greater synergy and operational preparedness across the three services.The Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff announced the development on X, describing it as a significant milestone in India’s defence evolution. The doctrine is designed to strengthen India’s…

The Pakistan Navy (PN) does not currently operate a nuclear-powered submarine. Its fleet is entirely conventionally powered — comprising the Khalid-class (Agosta 90B) and the incoming Hangor-class (S26) air-independent propulsion (AIP) boats. However, the PN has been actively pursuing a smaller, littoral-focused submarine class to complement the blue-water Hangor fleet. This requirement — the shallow water attack submarine (SWATS) — has appeared in Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP) yearbooks, in public statements by retired PN flag officers, and in the product portfolios of the PN’s closest foreign partner in submarine work: Türkiye’s Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik A.Ş. (STM). It is…

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…