Space
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Global Commons
Japan boosts defense satellite investments to strengthen space resilience, communications
Felix Kim Japan’s space posture is getting a major boost with a tenfold funding increase over five years for new defense satellites and related initiatives. The push includes plans for the country’s most advanced and resilient communications satellite and capabilities to counter anti-satellite threats. The November 2024 launch of the Kirameki 3 satellite, which enhanced secure, high-speed and high-capacity communications…
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Global Commons
Japan-U.S. space initiative focused on national security
U.S. Space Systems Command A United States space domain awareness payload hosted on Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite 6 successfully launched on a Japanese H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in early February 2025. It is the first Japan-U.S. space initiative focused on national security, and the first of two launches as part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System…
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Across The Region
South Korea Plans Mars Landing In 2045 As It Launches Space Agency
South Korea plans to make a Mars landing by 2045 and will spend $72.6 billion on space exploration over the next two decades, then-President Yoon Suk Yeol said at the launch of the country’s first space agency in mid-2024. The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) will lead the country’s “space economy,” with hundreds of businesses and enterprises working to catapult South…
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Global Commons
Satellite docking advances India’s space technology goals
The Associated Press India docked two satellites in space in mid-January 2025 to become the fourth nation in the world to achieve the mission, marking a milestone in New Delhi’s ambitious space technology expansion. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) maneuvered the satellites, each weighing 220 kilograms, during a precision space docking experiment, known as SpaDeX, the agency said. It…
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Global Commons
Indonesia and Thailand expand defense ties, focus on space, cyber, joint exercises
Gusty Da Costa Indonesian and Thai Air Forces are enhancing their defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on space and cyber defense, joint exercises, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR). During a recent visit to Thailand, Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff Air Marshal Tonny Harjono met with Royal Thai Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal Punpakdee Pattanakul to…
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Features
Cobra Gold 2024
FORUM Staff Cobra Gold 2024 took multilateral cooperation to new heights with 30 nations engaging in or observing key training activities ranging from land, maritime and air drills to space and cyber exercises, humanitarian efforts and cultural exchanges. “We have expanded the scope of military operations to address the full spectrum of threats across all domains,” Gen. Songwit Noonpackdee, defense…
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Features
Advancing Space Partnerships
Lt. Stephen Schroeder/U.S. Navy, U.S. Space Command Joint Integrated Space Team Pacific The United States and its Allies and Partners are at the forefront of an emerging era of opportunity. Space’s critical role in the global commons has gained considerable attention in recent years, and the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) guidance has never been clearer: “Space is now a…
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Global Commons
U.S. monitoring, disrupting Cuba-PRC spy bases
FORUM Staff Expanded spy stations in Cuba suggest the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is attempting to monitor United States military activities and potentially intercept commercial communications, according to a July 2024 report from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The study follows a 2023 report by The Wall Street Journal newspaper that the PRC was…
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Global Commons
Indo-Pacific Allies, Partners condemn North Korean spy satellite launch attempt
FORUM Staff The rocket explosion that ended North Korea’s latest effort to launch a spy satellite means the authoritarian regime has failed in three of its four attempts to put a military satellite into orbit. After two failed attempts delivered only international embarrassment in 2023, North Korea finally launched a spy satellite late that year, though experts have cast doubt…
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Global Commons
South Korea, U.S. accelerate space cooperation amid missile threats
Damin Jung South Korea and the United States are expanding their initiatives to shape military cooperation in the space domain. The longtime allies’ move comes amid growing threats in the region, including North Korea’s first successful spy satellite launch and its increasing illegal exchange of weapons and resources with Russia, officials said. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying South Korea’s…
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