Author: Defenceline Webdesk

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy warned that in the 1970s the world might have up to 25 nuclear weapon states. He was making the case for an international agreement to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons. That agreement, the NPT, proved to be perhaps the most significant arms control agreement ever negotiated. Today we stand at a similar juncture. Left unattended the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation is significant and growing; nowhere more so than in the Indo-Pacific. The NPT succeeded because it convinced countries contemplating acquiring nuclear weapons that proliferation was ultimately destabilizing. It rested on a…

Air & Space Forces Kadena Air Base’s 18th Wing is conducting a readiness exercise with two rotational fifth-generation fighter squadrons, as the base awaits its delayed stationed F-15EX… Source link

WASHINGTON — Defense primes have been attempting to soothe Wall Street’s anxieties surrounding the Pentagon’s uncertain outlook for a $1.5 trillion budget in fiscal 2027, with executives pointing to sustained weapons demand as proof that a meaty defense budget will ultimately materialize. Over the last two weeks, major defense firms declared their second-quarter earnings, with executives repeatedly pointing to bipartisan support for a boost in weapons production and increased orders from both the Defense Department and international customers. The Pentagon’s request totals $1.15 trillion in base budget spending and $350 billion in reconciliation spending. But it remains unclear whether there are…

Years after federal regulators invoked national security to push three Chinese state-owned telecommunications providers out of the American market, the companies never fully left, a new House probe has found.China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom retained equipment, data-center space and connections to other networks in the United States after the Federal Communications Commission denied or revoked their authority to provide certain telecommunications services, according to a nearly 50-page bipartisan House China Committee investigation planned for release Tuesday and first seen by Nextgov/FCW.From 2019 to 2022, the FCC denied China Mobile USA’s application to provide international service; it revoked  related…

The global missiles and missile defence sector looks set for strong growth over the next decade, with Western countries dominating the market. Source link

On August 4, Japan’s Cabinet approved the 2026 edition of its annual defense white paper, warning that China is steadily expanding its military reach into the Pacific beyond the First Island Chain, the strategic arc linking Japan’s southwestern islands, Taiwan, and the Philippines.  The report, Defense of Japan 2026, again described China as “an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan’s peace and security, repeating language first adopted in Japan’s revised National Security Strategy in 2022. This year’s white paper placed particular emphasis on China’s expanding military activities in the Pacific, highlighting what Tokyo views as Beijing’s growing ability…

K. Blevins, Proceedings The Future Frigate program (FF[X]), derived from the U.S. Coast Guard’s national security cutter (NSC), provides the U.S. Navy an opportunity to correct a persistent… Source link

WASHINGTON — Colombia has finalized a deal to buy two KC-390 Millennium airlifters from Brazilian planemaker Embraer, the Colombian Aerospace Force announced today. The first aircraft is expected to arrive in 2029, followed by the second in 2030, according to a press release from the Colombian Aerospace Force, or FAC (Fuerza Aeroespacial Colombiana). The deal is estimated to cost roughly $366 million, with “fixed prices that protect the national budget” from inflationary pressures.  The FAC said in the release that the aircraft was selected as the result of “rigorous analysis” stemming from an overarching strategy to modernize Bogotá’s air and…

Container lines began testing a return to the Suez route in early 2026, with the first Asia to Europe services shifting back to Red Sea sailings from mid-February on the condition that security conditions held. That condition is generally read as a question about Yemen. It is at least as much a question about the western shore of the same corridor, where a four-year war has left roughly 700 kilometers of Sudanese coastline under a government that depends on foreign weapons suppliers, principally Iran, Turkey, Russia and China, and that has been willing to discuss access to its ports as part of…

R.D. Hooker, Jr., RealClearDefense “Defense spending is out of control … a bottomless pit of need with no design and little assessment between competing platforms and above serious… Source link