Taiwan says it has been subject to a series of intensified cyber attacks since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island nation on 2 August.  The attacks come amid rising US and Taiwan tensions with China, which has voiced “strong opposition...

The US Capitol building in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)  The US Senate on 27 July passed a Pentagon-backed bill that would provide USD76 billion to shore up domestic production of semiconductor chips.  The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, which the Senate approved by a 64–33 vote, heads to the House of Representatives, which is expected to pass the bill on 28 July. President Joe Biden has indicated he will sign the legislation into law when it reaches his desk.  Proponents say the bill, which has been in th...

The US Capitol building in Washington, DC. (Janes/Marc Selinger)  The US House of Representatives has backed a proposal that would prohibit the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its contractors from using a Chinese system that enables cargo shippers to share data.  Proponents of the legislation argue that the National Public Information Platform for Transportation and Logistics (LOGINK), which is overseen by China's Ministry of Transport, could enable the Chinese government to track US military equipment sent through commercial ports. Repres...

Military aircraft from China and Russia, which have approached Japanese airspace, have been the primary cause of Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighter scrambles. (Janes)  The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) scrambled its fighter aircraft 235 times in the first quarter of 2022. This represents a 65% increase over scrambles in a similar period in 2021.  Data released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) on 6 July shows that 142 scrambles were conducted in the first quarter of 2021. The Japan MoD data also shows that the 2022 first quar...

New Zealand is forecast by Janes Defence Budgets to gradually increase its military expenditure over the coming few years. The spike in 2019 was caused by a one-off recognition of veterans' entitlements. (Janes Defence Budgets)  The New Zealand Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched a Defence Policy Review that could represent a significant shift in posture and military engagement in the Pacific region.  The review builds upon the Defence Assessment 2021, published in December that year, which identified China and climate change as pressing s...

Milrem's Type-X robotic combat vehicle pictured integrated with Kongsberg's Protector RT40 turret during live-fire testing in Slovenia, June 2022. The Type-X robotic combat vehicle is being touted as a model for the EU's UGV development after the conclusion of iMUGS. (Milrem)  The successor project to the Integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System (iMUGS) programme, the European Defence Fund's (EDF) project for a common unmanned ground vehicle, has been pushed back by one year, Janes can confirm.  “It's [going to be] in EDF [Work Programme] 20...

Press conference by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde following the signature of the NATO accession protocols for the two Nordic countries on 5 July. (NATO)  The 30 ambassadors to NATO signed the accession protocols for Finland and Sweden on 5 July in the presence of Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde. In a joint press conference with the two ministers following the signings, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenber...

The new vessels will be an improved version of the OPV   Turva,   which entered service in 2014.  (Janes/John Pagni)  The Finnish Border Guard (FBG) has awarded a contract to Meyer Turku for two new liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).  The new vessels will be an improved variant of the OPV Turva, which was commissioned into FBG service in 2014 as the world's first LNG coastguard ship.  Under the terms of the contract, signed on 29 June, the first new OPV is expected to be completed...

Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (right) and Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa attend an agreement signing ceremony between the two countries in Apia, Samoa on 28 May 2022. (Vaitogi Asuisui Matafeo/Samoa Observer/AFP via Getty I...

Thailand scrambled two F-16s after a Myanmar MiG-29 violated Thai airspace on 30 June 2022. (Janes/Kelvin Wong)  A cross-border violation by a Myanmar Air Force military aircraft engaged in military operations on 30 June prompted a scramble by Thai fighter jets.  According to air force spokesperson Air Vice Marshal Prapas Sonjaidee, two F-16s were scrambled after a Thai radar detected an aircraft in Thai airspace close to the border with Myanmar.  The incident occurred at “about 1106 [h] local time at Phop Phra, Tak province,” AVM Sonjaidee...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told journalists on 29 June that Ukraine could count on NATO members to continue to provide it with military and financial aid. (NATO)  With allied leaders agreeing, during the June 29–30 Madrid summit, to massively ramp-up the defence of NATO's home territory against external aggression, attention will now turn to how effectively the alliance can deliver assistance to its partner countries, particularly Ukraine, to shore up their security via NATO's newly reformed multination Trust Funds (TFs).  The ti...

NATO enlargement from 1952 to the present. (Janes/NATO)  NATO leaders invited Finland and Sweden to become the alliance's 31st and 32nd members on the first day of their 29–30 June summit in Madrid. Speaking to journalists on 29 June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described the invitation as a “historic decision”.  It will enable NATO to prepare accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, amending the 1949 Washington Treaty that created the alliance for signature and ratification by allies. For many of NATO's 30 members, ratificatio...

The US is to beef up its F-35 presence in Europe, with a further two squadrons to be sent to RAF Lakenheath in the UK. (US Air Force)  The United States is to send two additional squadrons of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft to the United Kingdom as part of a wider ramp-up of capabilities in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  US President Joe Biden made the announcement at the NATO Madrid Summit on 29 June, with the two new F-35A squadrons being despatched to the home of the US Air Force's (US...

A file image of JS   Bungo  (464). The vessel is one of two mine-countermeasures vessels involved in a 23 June collision near Iwo Jima island.   (Janes/Hachiro Nakai)  Two Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) mine countermeasure vessels (MCMVs) have collided in waters around Iwo Jima island in the North Pacific Ocean.  Janes has been informed by a source close to the matter that the vessels involved are namely the Sugashima-class coastal minesweeper JS Aishima with pennant number 688 and the Uraga-class mine...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on the eve of the summit of allied leaders being held in Madrid from 28 to 30 June that the alliance would increase its high-readiness forces to over 300,000 troops. (NATO)  Allied leaders meeting in Madrid for the NATO summit being held from 28 to 30 June will agree to increase the alliance's high-readiness forces to strengthen its forward defences, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference on the eve of the meeting.  He expected the summit to be “transformative”, with a...

The US Navy flew a Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft over the Taiwan Strait on 24 June 2022. (Boeing)  A US Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft flew over the Taiwan Strait on 24 June in a potential signal to Beijing regarding its aggressive posturing towards Taiwan.  In its official statement, the US Indo-Pacific Command suggested that the flight was intended to counter assertions by China that the strait is not part of international waters.  “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with internat...

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi pose for a photo before their Japan-Australia bilateral defence meeting at the Japanese Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on June 15, 2022. (Kyodo News via Getty Images)  Japan and Australia are planning to expand bilateral defence co-operation to be better equipped to respond to the common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, the defence ministers of the two countries – Nobuo Kishi and Richard Marles – said in a joint statement on 15 June.  According to the j...

The Russian Navy tug   Spasatel Vasily Bekh  was operated by the Black Sea Fleet. It entered service in 2017.   (Yoruk Isik)    The Ukrainian Navy claims that it has struck the Russian Navy Project 22870 salvage tugboat   Spasatel Vasily Bekh (  SB 739) in a missile strike in the Black Sea.   In a statement on its official Twitter acount on 17 June, the Ukrainian Navy said the vessel was attacked while transporting personnel, weapons, and ammunition to the Zmiinyi (Snake) Island with a Tor surf...

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi pose for a photo before their Japan-Australia bilateral defence meeting at the Japanese Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on June 15, 2022. (Kyodo News via Getty Images)  Japan and Australia are planning to expand bilateral defence co-operation to be better equipped to respond to the common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, the defence ministers of the two countries – Nobuo Kishi and Richard Marles – said in a joint statement on 15 June.  According to the j...

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks with civilians assigned to USNS   Carl Brashear  (T-AKE-7) at Sembawang Naval Base in Singapore. Austin was in Singapore to participate in the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue.   (US Department of Defense)  At the final day of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2022, a representative from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) took the opportunity to lambast the forum as a pro-Washington event. During a question-and-answer session with Singapore's Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen, Senior C...