Allies

New NATO commercial space strategy seeks to prompt more investment

The new strategy strongly echoes the US Space Force's Commercial Space Strategy published in April 2024, and copies some of the implementation tools the service has put into place.

Chinese military delegation to make rare visit to Japan, experts see pre-Trump prep

“For both economic and strategic reasons, China may hope to use the opportunity presented by the political transition in the US to stabilize ties with Japan," Bonnie Glaser, China expert at the German Marshall Fund, told Breaking Defense.

Italy inks deal to buy up to 24 more Typhoons, Leonardo says

The contract with Rome follows hard on the heels of a deal with Spain for 25 Eurofighter Typhoon fourth-generation fighter jets under the country's Halcon II program.

‘New era of crisis’ prompts Japan’ biggest defense budget ever: $59B for 2025

Japan seeks to buy another 11 F-35 joint strike fighters, develop a new military small satellite constellation and invest in new signals intelligence aircraft.

US approves new ITAR rules for Australia and UK, in order to speed AUKUS arms exports

This US ITAR reform would reduce by "close to, or slightly over 900 export permits required under our export controls from Australia to the US and the UK, with a value of around $5 billion AUD a year," an Australian defense official said.

AUKUS language contains exit clause for the US, but is that a problem?

"Nothing in this treaty has changed the known level of risk for what is an ambitious project. In some respects, the agreement of the treaty-level document between the three countries can be interpreted as a risk reduction measure," Australian naval expert Jennifer Parker said.

Japan PM’s Washington trip: Bilateral focus but ‘groundbreaking’ trilateral goals

"Japan is basically signaling both to the Philippines and the US, and beyond that, [to] Southeast Asia and others in the region, that they should look to Japan as a leader in this space," John Blaxland, of the Australian National University, told Breaking Defense.

DoD ‘completely rewrites’ classification policy for secret space programs

Under the new approach, there must be a technical rationale for stamping a space program as special access, not simply because of a service policy decision, said DoD space policy czar John Plumb.

US-Philippines discuss ‘roadmap’ for weapon buys, including potential multi-role fighter sale

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."

Japan V-22s free from hard clutch problems for now; US Marines confident in repair plan

"So the measure that we undertook of the flight limit bulletin, I think, probably is best summed up as that will allow us to not only to stop this increase in the rate of occurrence, but reduce it by 99 percent," a senior official told Breaking Defense.

‘Out of control’: DoD reviews use of super-secret SAP classification, for space programs and beyond

John Plumb, DoD assistant secretary for space policy, suggested overuse of SAPs is hindering information sharing across programs and, more importantly, to allies.

After Ukraine invasion, NATO aligning strategy with ‘regional plans’: Former SACEUR

NATO likely will maintain a "semi-permanent" presence in Eastern Europe for many years to come, said retired Gen. Tod Wolters, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

EXCLUSIVE: Aussie company to unveil passive space radar in a box, LEO space tracking

"We're talking about a shipping container that includes everything: the power supply, the generator, the batteries, all of the computers, all of the antennas that will fit inside," CEO James Palmer said. "You can put it into an area where you wish to get some coverage, deploy the aperture out, and within half-a-day you're up and running and observing stuff in Low Earth Orbit completely covertly."

Ukraine shows that city hopping is the ‘new era’ of defensive warfare

"Ukraine has shown that shaping and deterrence can fail, that assumptions can be wrong and that events can take on a life of their own. It shows the character of warfare may have changed, but its nature has not," the head of Australia's Army, Lt. Gen. Richard Burr, said.