Australia
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Departments
Responsible Partner
FORUM Staff In a time of rapidly evolving security challenges, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is navigating complex traditional and nontraditional threats while expanding and reinforcing partnerships across the Indo-Pacific and beyond. After becoming AFP chief of staff in July 2023, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. led the multidomain transformation and overseen an expansive military modernization that has positioned…
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Features
A New Era of Cooperation
FORUM Staff In an increasingly contested orbital environment, the United States Space Force is augmenting its approach to space security and defense cooperation. With the release of its 2025 International Partnership Strategy, in support of U.S. Department of War (DOW) objectives, the Space Force has built a strategic vision on collaboration, interoperability and shared responsibility among the U.S. and its…
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Features
Counterattack
FORUM Staff Acceleration and affordability are key pillars of the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) strategy for the United States and its Allies and Partners in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. amplified the strategy when Secretary of War Pete Hegseth created the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) 401 in August 2025 to rapidly acquire and integrate defense systems to combat small UAVs.…
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Features
Innovation key to Indo-Pacific deterrence
Chris Mills/University of New South Wales Defence Research Institute As strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific intensifies, Australia and the United States have converged on complementary approaches to deterrence. Australia’s National Defence Strategy frames deterrence by denial as preventing an adversary from achieving its objectives by making aggression infeasible or prohibitively costly by posturing and deploying resilient, survivable and networked military capabilities…
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Features
Networked Asymmetry
U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Dr. James M. Minnich Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies In April 2025, a new picture of coalition power emerged across the Philippine archipelago. During Exercise Balikatan, United States Marines positioned long-range anti-ship missile launchers in the northern islands of the Batanes. Simultaneously, U.S. Army High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) rolled into coastal…
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Oceania
New Zealand forces build interoperability, uphold stability across Indo-Pacific
FORUM Staff A three-month New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) deployment is supporting maritime security, disaster response and sanctions monitoring from the South Pacific to Northeast Asia, highlighting the nation’s commitment to upholding Indo-Pacific stability and international norms. NZDF personnel and assets, including a maritime patrol aircraft and naval vessels with embarked helicopters, are conducting missions and drills with Allies and…
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Oceania
Australia, Thailand boosting security cooperation
FORUM Staff The leaders of Australia and Thailand pledged to strengthen their nations’ security and economic ties, including enhancing law enforcement, defense and innovation cooperation to build collaboration and trust. During their August 2026 meeting in Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also agreed to hold biennial defense minister meetings to strengthen security cooperation.…
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Conflicts - Tensions
More than 40 countries urge 24-hour notice before ballistic missile tests
Sentry A United States-led group of more than 40 nations called on governments to give at least 24-hour notice before testing long-range ballistic missiles or launching space rockets. The alert would reduce the risk of miscalculation and unintended response, the countries said in a joint statement issued in August 2026 at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland. The proposal…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Indo-Pacific nations strengthen defenses against malign information
Felix Kim Malign information campaigns by foreign actors are emerging as one of the Indo-Pacific’s most pressing security challenges. Intelligence agencies, defense ministries and multilateral coalitions across the region are countering such information warfare with increased urgency. Authoritarian regimes are “actively weaponizing our open information environments to paralyze decision-making, split our societies and make nothing true,” Dr. Stephen Nagy, a…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Australia-Philippines-U.S. maritime cooperation boosts interoperability
Australian Defence Department/Armed Forces of the Philippines Naval and air units from Australia, the Philippines and the United States conducted a maritime cooperative activity (MCA) within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in August 2026. It was the 19th MCA in the South China Sea, referred to as the West Philippine Sea by Manila, since April 2024, according to the…
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