Author: Defenceline Webdesk

On 11 September, the Pakistani government’s Central Development Working Party (CDWP) referred the PakSat-2 communications satellite program to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for consideration, following an earlier approval from 25 June, which granted in-principle approval and also recommended the project to ECNEC. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) received Pakistan’s filing in January 2025 for a satellite at 38° East in geostationary orbit (GEO). PakSat-2 would replace PakSat-1R at that position. Having launched in August 2011, PakSat-1R had passed its stated 15-year design-life milestone in August 2026. In tandem with the PakSat-2 satellite, Pakistan also intends…

The Malaysian states Johor and Negeri Sembilan recently held state elections that produced disappointing results for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition. During the July 11 polls in Johor, an economically important state at the tip of peninsular Malaysia, Barisan Nasional (BN), ​secured a commanding victory, winning 48 of 56 state assembly seats, up from 40 at the last election in 2022. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition won the remaining eight seats, down from 12 previously. This result was largely replicated in Negeri Sembilan on August 1. Here BN won 18 of the 36 seats in the state’s legislative assembly and…

WASHINGTON — A new report by the Pentagon’s Inspector General has outlined the costs of Operation Epic Fury. Among them: “hundreds” of buildings and “dozens” of aircraft left damaged or destroyed, over 400 servicemembers wounded and the expenditure of $22 billion in munitions that has left “strategic inventory shortfalls” for the US military. The report, released today, provides the clearest accounting of the materiel damage that has occurred to US military assets since the start of the conflict with Iran. The report only covers from the launch of military activities on Feb. 28 to June 30, meaning that damage totals…

Pakistan and Oman are discussing a strategic maritime agreement to designate Pakistan’s Gwadar Port and Oman’s Sohar Port as sister ports. Pakistani officials say the agreement will help the two ports work more closely on operational matters and create fresh opportunities for trade and investment between the two countries. This is the latest in a series of developments in recent months that have elevated Gwadar’s profile amid growing uncertainty over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, driven by the Iran-U.S. war. Gwadar Port is located on Pakistan’s southwestern coast in Balochistan. It sits roughly 400 kilometers from the Strait of…

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A stopgap budget measure passed by lawmakers earlier this month may have averted a government shut down, but the continuing resolution set to stretch until mid-December will still carry considerable consequences for the Space Force, according to its new top uniformed official.  “We’re thankful that we have a CR for going into October [1], but I would really be more thankful if we had a budget,” Gen. Douglas Schiess, who was sworn in as the chief of space operations Sept. 3, said during a briefing with reporters today.  Speaking on the sidelines of the Air and…

It was a short press release, published on a Friday afternoon and easily missed.  The International Monetary Fund’s executive board had considered a report on “Turkmenistan’s observance of its obligations… which requires member countries to provide data necessary for the IMF’s activities.”  Ashgabat, the board said, “has not provided key required data, including information on international reserve assets, official holdings of gold and foreign exchange, and a complete balance of payments.” This non-provision, the statement continued, “could not be explained by a lack of capacity and therefore constitutes a breach of Turkmenistan’s obligations.” In six months, the board will consider…

JERUSALEM — Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced today that for the first time it is “integrating its SPICE 1000 air-to-surface munition on the F-35 fighter aircraft,” a move it sees as a “significant step” in allowing other F-35 users to use the munition. SPICE stands for Smart, Precise Impact and Cost-Effective and refers to a line of munitions meant to provide a stand-off strike capability of more than 75 miles (120km). The group of weapons, marketed as SPICE 2000, 1000 and 250 — denoting the munitions’ weight in pounds — have been around for years as part of Rafael’s…

Between July and September 2026, scientific and technological cooperation between Mexico and China gained new momentum. Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez, head of Mexico’s Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (Secihti), first met with Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Chen Daojiang and later co-chaired, alongside Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun, the Ninth Meeting of the Science and Technology Subcommittee of the Mexico-China Permanent Binational Commission. Since the mechanism was established in 2004, no Chinese minister of science and technology had personally participated in its meetings. At the meeting, the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation…

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — An upgrade for the F-35 stealth fighter’s engine has passed a crucial design review, teeing up the program to move into subsequent testing and eventually production, according to a top executive at manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. “It means that we’ve been working integration work with the airframe. It means that the design is solid. It means that we’re ready to move forward from an industrial base as well,” Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt’s military engines business, said of the design review in an interview with Breaking Defense on Monday. (Today, Pratt’s parent company RTX announced that Albertelli…

U.S. Cyber Command, the Pentagon’s combatant command responsible for planning and conducting military cyberspace operations, has a new artificial intelligence lead, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. “U.S. Cyber Command welcomes Rear Adm. Ronzelle Green as the Command’s new Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and thanks Brig. Gen. Reid Novotny for his leadership and service,” a representative for the combatant command told Nextgov/FCW.Green, who has worked at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for roughly three years — most recently as its director of geospatial intelligence innovation and research — is Cyber Command’s second-ever AI head. Novotny was the first official tapped for the position…