Author: Defenceline Webdesk

An AI breakout that made headlines in July was much more sophisticated than previously realized, investigators have found.Hundreds of OpenAI agents collaborated to break out of their containers, disguising their actions and even sacrificing themselves as they attacked Hugging Face, a widely used open-source code library, according to a recent post from METR, a research nonprofit.“This incident was orders of magnitude larger and more complex,” than previous instances of AI agents behaving in ways programmers didn’t intend, wrote METR researcher Ajeya Cotra, who co-led the investigation.The report alarmed experts, who warned  that AI-enabled hacks in the future could make the…

As ASEAN’s only G20 member, a critical global mineral supply chain node, and occupying strategic maritime space, massive Indonesia is an especially consequential “fulcrum of order” in the Indo-Pacific and Global South. Like most ASEAN states, it remains committed to strategic autonomy while notably drifting toward China. However, Jakarta’s shift is especially consequential.  “Free and active,” or bebas aktif, remains Indonesian foreign policy’s sincerely prized core. Yet beneath this high-level continuity, Beijing’s influence has rapidly grown, especially economically, overtaking the United States and key alternative partners like Japan and South Korea. Indonesia is not yet China-aligned, but the material bases…

WASHINGTON — The cost of all three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are increasing by as much as roughly 11 percent, according to the Pentagon. A spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) confirmed to Breaking Defense that the average flyaway cost — a metric that measures when a jet has all the equipment it needs for delivery — of the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A rose to $92 million in the aircraft’s 18th and 19th production lots, which will deliver over the next two years. That’s up from the $82.5 million price tag of the jet’s…

Nepal’s recent floods, which have killed at least 1,280 people while over 5,600 are still missing as of this writing, rank among the country’s worst natural disasters. Preliminary estimates put economic losses at $2.56 billion. But the disaster’s consequences will extend far beyond the immediate human and economic toll. It has also undermined the efforts of successive post-2015 governments to achieve more geopolitical balance, largely through the development of new transport, trade and transit facilities with China. As a landlocked country wedged between India and China, Nepal has long sought to preserve its strategic autonomy by balancing the influence of…

WASHINGTON — Contractors will soon have more options to perform classified work for the Pentagon through the newly announced “Secure Space Network.” The effort aims to provide access to physical, classified spaces, known as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs), by designing and deploying around 50 of them across the country. “We must make it easier for capable companies to contribute at every level of the mission. Industry has identified access to classified environments as a major barrier, and the Secure Space Network directly addresses that challenge by opening the door to classified work for more companies,” James R. Mismash, Deputy…

The reasons for the rise of far-right politics in Australia are often cited as financial stress, housing shortages, and frustration with the government. Yet this doesn’t explain why disillusioned voters are drifting toward the far right instead of the left. To understand this, we need to look at how far-right ideas actually connect to mainstream Australian values – not treat the far right as some separate, foreign, or imported movement. The common assumption is that far-right politics is fundamentally opposed to democratic values, or is a kind of “sickness” in an otherwise healthy system. But Cas Mudde argued the opposite:…

This is the latest in a series of semi-regular columns by Robbin Laird, where he will tackle current defense issues through the lens of more than 45 years of defense expertise in both the US and abroad. The goal of these columns: to look back at how questions and perspectives of the past should inform decisions being made today. Rear Adm. Max “Pepper” McCoy, the Chief of Naval Air Training, describes the system he runs as a factory conveyor belt: the test of whether it is working is whether it flows smoothly, without pools forming anywhere along the line.  And…

Every August 30, the international community observes the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Historically, any mention of enforced disappearances has evoked images of clandestine detentions and unacknowledged abductions by shadowy operatives operating with impunity in totalitarian states. In the contemporary era, however, the architecture of erasure has evolved into something far more institutionalized.  Across authoritarian regimes and even democracies, state apparatuses frequently achieve the same outcome through formal legal machinery: weaponizing extraordinary counterterror statutes in the name of national security, imposing endless pre-trial detention, and relying on procedural delays to remove dissenting voices from the public sphere.…

English (Original) Spanish – Español French – Français German – Deutsch Arabic – العربية Chinese – 中文 Japanese – 日本語 Russian – Русский Portuguese – Português Italian – Italiano Korean – 한국어 Dutch – Nederlands Turkish – Türkçe Polish – Polski Hindi – हिन्दी 🤖 Hi! I’m here to help you understand this article. Ask me anything about the content! Send Tensions over the Falkland Islands have escalated after Argentine President Javier Milei announced tougher measures against companies involved in oil development around the territory, as Donald Trump raised the prospect of Washington reconsidering its position on the sovereignty dispute.…

Pictured is the Centauro II 8×8 wheeled vehicle. Credit: Leonardo. Leonardo signed a contract to produce the first batch of 8×8 Centauro II wheeled vehicles to the Brazilian Army The company will deliver the first seven out of a total of 98 vehicles Centauo II is a unique “wheeled tank destroyer” with a 120mm calibre gun Leonardo signed a contract to begin serial production of the first batch of Centauro II 8×8 wheeled vehicles for the Brazilian Army and Marine Corps, according to a release issued on 1 September 2026. The company will deliver seven Centauro II vehicles out of…