Colin Clark, the founding editor of Breaking Defense, is now our Indo-Pacific Bureau Chief, based in Sydney, Australia. In addition to his foundational efforts at Breaking Defense, Colin also started DoDBuzz.com, the world’s first all-online defense news website. He’s covered Congress, intelligence and regulatory affairs for Space News; founded and edited the Washington Aerospace Briefing, a newsletter for the space industry; covered national security issues for Congressional Quarterly; and was editor of Defense News. Colin is an avid fisherman, grill genius and wine drinker, all of which are only part of the reason he relishes the opportunity to live in Australia.
"Doing our part to fulfill the shared responsibility all of us have to preserve peace and security," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. "And making it crystal clear that when it comes to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force: be it in Taiwan, the South China Sea, the East China Sea or elsewhere, the risk of conflict will always far outweigh any potential reward."
A new report from a leading Australian thinktank says there's a "disconnect" between Australia's strategic priorities and the money to fund capabilities to tackle them.
The challenge for Western democratic institutions is not a lack of capability — it is a structural one.
"The loss rate for Ukrainian UAVs at the moment is about 10,000 UAVs a month," Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said. "That's the level of equipment that both sides are going through."
"At the senior levels, there are so many two- and three-star Australians that knew two- and three- and four-star Americans. They would call each other or VTC each other, and nobody knew," one interviewee said. "We didn’t know, and we kept saying, hey, we would really appreciate it if you let us know what’s happening ... so we can help facilitate the outcomes."
"Whenever we fly in our own territorial waters, we are challenged by the Chinese, challenged because they say we are in their territory, when in fact it is our territory," Lt. Gen. Romeo Browner, commanding general of the Philippine Army said.
"As quiet work begins on Pillar I, and as traditional sources of resistance return to the driver’s seat of alliance defence industrial and technology cooperation, there is a distinct risk that any progress towards setting the optimal legal and regulatory conditions for AUKUS, particularly Pillar II, to function as intended will falter," the United States Studies Centre report says.
From emerging data networks to missile tracking and cyber resilience, Breaking Defense’s latest eBook brings together essential reporting on the evolving role of satellites in national security.
"We've seen an increased demand for budget as costs rise due to inflation and consistent challenges to our workforce, including recruiting and retention. And there have been increased demands on our vehicles and our equipment," Lt. Gen. Simon Stuart, head of the Royal Australian Army, said.
"I think about the value of training forces that never previously had a capability like that and then we provide that capability to them. And they're able to conduct an intercept in that way," Gen. Charles Flynn said. "To me that's that's the bigger issue."
The planned purchase of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) will be cut from 450 to 129, a blow to competitors Hanwha and Rheinmetall.
"The restoration of the bilateral GSOMIA and the desire now to expand intelligence and other types of security cooperation are made possible by President Yoon’s determination to improve relations and Japan’s growing anxiety about an assertive China," Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute wrote.
Leaders discussed what US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called "a security-sector assistance roadmap to support the delivery of priority defense platforms over the next five to 10 years, including radar, unmanned aerial systems, military transport aircraft and coastal- and air-defense systems."
"So, what worries me most is China's use of space to complete the kill chain necessary to generate long-range precision strikes against the maritime and air components scheme of maneuver. That's what concerns me the most," Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, commander of Space Forces Indo-Pacific, said.
The Defense Department here, in an unusual move, announced that Lockheed had been directly awarded the contract for what is expected to be a $4 billion AUD ($2.86 billon) commitment to Australia’s first sovereign military satellite program.
"It is important to keep in mind that while the US and ROK certainly have the right to conduct drills as they see fit, what they have been doing is NOT business as usual," Jenny Town, a Korean analyst at the Stimson Center in Washington, wrote in an email.