Japan
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Global Commons
Japan’s defense industry expands at home, overseas amid regional tensions
Felix Kim Japan is rapidly transforming its defense industrial base, driven by record government spending, burgeoning partnerships and growing strategic urgency in the Indo-Pacific. Long reliant on imports, Tokyo is investing heavily in domestic capabilities while expanding its international defense footprint. The 2025 defense budget of about $61 billion is the largest in Japan’s postwar history and signals a new…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
U.K.-led Operation Highmast departs for Indo-Pacific deployment with Allies and Partners
FORUM Staff The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales departed Portsmouth Naval Base in late April 2025 to lead a multilateral deployment to the Indo-Pacific. The eight-month deployment of the U.K.’s Carrier Strike Group 2025, called Operation Highmast, will be joined by vessels and/or personnel from 13 nations, including Australia, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand,…
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Northeast Asia
U.S. B-1B bombers operate out of Japan for first time
Sentry Contributor Two United States Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers arrived at Misawa Air Base, Japan, in April 2025 as part of a rotational Bomber Task Force deployment, marking the first time B-1s operated out of Misawa. The deployment is a component of the U.S. strategy to maintain a forward-based presence in the Indo-Pacific. Officials highlighted the mission’s operational rationale,…
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Oceania
Australia deepens engagement in Solomon Islands amid geopolitical tensions
Peter Parson Australia is expanding its engagements in Solomon Islands with an array of medical, public health and maritime security initiatives, reaffirming its commitment to regional stability as Beijing’s attempts to gain influence raise concern. Canberra’s nine-year, $73 million Health Sector Support Program is bolstering the Pacific island country’s capabilities in areas including malaria control, maternal and child health, water…
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Contemplations
First wooden satellite, developed in Japan, deploys to space
Story and Photos by REUTERS The world’s first wooden satellite, built by Japanese researchers, was launched into space in November 2024 to test using timber in lunar and Mars exploration. LignoSat, developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, was flown to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX mission and released into orbit about 400 kilometers above Earth. Named…
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Departments
Strategy of Denial
Dongkeun Lee/Republic of Korea Navy In the Indo-Pacific, navies play a major role in shaping a balance of power that generates deterrent effects. The roles and strategies of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) are crucial to this deterrence. When we think about power in international relations, it’s easy to imagine armies clashing on…
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Features
Cultivating Success
SPENCER PETERSEN/U.S. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Active wars and regional conflicts. Mounting tensions in the South China Sea. Reverberations from a pandemic. Competition between the world’s two largest economies. Record refugee and migrant flows. The complex and emerging security challenges facing the Indo-Pacific and the world require novel solutions, especially in an age of artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligence diplomacy may be…
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Features
Pacific Multi-Domain Training and Experimentation Capability
Dr. Andre J. Stridiron III/U.S. INDO-PACIFIC COMMAND The Pacific Multi-Domain Training and Experimentation Capability (PMTEC) program strives to rapidly enhance and enable joint and coalition interoperability across the Indo-Pacific. Funded and resourced by the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) under the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), PMTEC links advanced live, virtual and constructive (LVC) range technologies across the region. Entering its…
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Features
Exposing Coercion
FORUM Staff China has shown clear intent through its actions in the South China Sea: to control nearly 90% of the economically vital waters, including maritime territory in the Bruneian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Philippine and Vietnamese exclusive economic zones (EEZ). Over decades, however, China has sought to secure its illegitimate claims with lawfare activity conducted in relative obscurity. Examples include Beijing’s…
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Across The Region
Australia, Japan boost defense ties in face of CCP incursions
Australia and Japan are increasing joint defense exercises amid shared concerns over the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) incursions into Japanese airspace and territorial waters. During their September 2024 summit in Queenscliff, Australia, the nations’ defense and foreign ministers discussed greater security cooperation, support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and unease about the CCP’s increasingly aggressive territorial claims…
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