Indian armed forces ICV BMP II (Sarath) tanks take part in India’s 74th Republic Day parade in New Delhi on Jan 26, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP) NEW DELHI – India proposed on Wednesday 5.94 trillion rupees ($72.6 billion) in defense spending for the 2023-24 financial year, 13 percent up from the previous period's initial estimates, […]
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left) shakes hands with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup after a joint press conference after their meeting at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan 31, 2023. (PHOTO / AP) SEOUL – The defense chiefs of the United States and South Korea vowed on Tuesday to […]
A person in protective face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Oct 6, 2021. (LOREN ELLIOTT / REUTERS) SYDNEY – Australia said on Monday it would accelerate plans to buy advanced sea mines to protect its maritime routes and ports from "potential aggressors". The so-called smart […]
Sweden's Defence Minister Pal Jonson speaks to members of the media in the north east of England on Nov 9, 2022. (ANDY COMMINS / POOL / AFP) ISTANBUL – Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday that a planned visit by his Swedish counterpart to Ankara has been canceled after Swedish authorities granted permission […]
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a transition ceremony for the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in Jerusalem, Jan 16, 2023. (MAYA ALLERUZZO / POOL VIA REUTERS) JERUSALEM – Israeli leaders vowed on Monday to keep the country's conscript military free of politics after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave far-right coalition […]
Sri Lanka military personnel take part in an Independence Day parade rehearsal in Colombo on Feb 3, 2022. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP) COLOMBO – Sri Lanka will slash its army by a third to 135,000 personnel by next year and to 100,000 by 2030, the state minister of defense said on Friday, as the […]
In this file photo taken on Aug 21, 2015, Iranian men walk past the then closed British embassy in the capital Tehran. (ATTA KENARE / AFP) TEHRAN — Iran's judiciary announced on Wednesday that a death sentence was handed down to a former Iranian Defense Ministry official on the charge of espionage against the country. […]
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada (left), Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (second left), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (second right) and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (right) hold a press conference following meetings at the US Department of State in Washington, DC, on Jan 11, 2023. (SAUL LOEB / AFP) WASHINGTON – The United […]
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (center) rides a military vehicle as he inspects the troops during the 87th anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, at the military headquarters in Quezon City in suburban Manila on Dec 19, 2022. (TED AJIBE / AFP) MANILA – Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos has appointed Carlito […]
Japan seems intent on stepping up unsettling efforts to strengthen its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. According to a US Naval News website report on Tuesday, as well as two large warships dedicated to ballistic missile defense that it is building to replace the canceled land-based Aegis missile defense system, Japan plans to build […]
In this file photo dated May 20, 2022, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference in Istanbul, Türkiye. (PHOTO / TURKISH PRESIDENCY VIA AP) ISTANBUL – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he may meet Syria's Bashar al-Assad as part of a new peace process, after their defense ministers met last week […]
DAMASCUS – Defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye and Syria met in Moscow on Wednesday, in the first publicly announced meeting between officials of both countries since the 11-year war in Syria started, the Syrian defense ministry has said. In a statement released after midnight Wednesday, the Syrian defense ministry said Turkish Defense Minister […]
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks before media members at his official residence in Tokyo on Dec 10, 2022, after an extraordinary Diet session. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO / AP) TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday floated the possibility of calling a snap election before a tax increase aimed at funding the country's defense […]
Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) disembark from a V-22 Osprey aircraft during a live fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba on May 28, 2022. (TOMOHIRO OHSUMI / POOL / AFP) TOKYO – Japan unveiled on Friday a record 114.4 trillion yen ($863 billion) budget for the next fiscal year […]
Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) disembark from a V-22 Osprey aircraft during a live fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba on May 28, 2022. (TOMOHIRO OHSUMI / POOL / AFP) TOKYO – Japan's plan to undertake its biggest military build-up since World War II without increasing headcount is flawed, […]
The flags of Iran flutter during a sandstorm in the south of the capital Tehran on July 4, 2022. (ATTA KENARE / AFP) TEHRAN – Iran's Intelligence Ministry has identified and arrested members of an Israeli spy network planning to sabotage the country's defense industry, Tasnim News Agency reported Monday. Hadrien Lavaux, the managing director […]
This photo taken on June 2017 shows Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-35A stealth jet at a factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in Toyoyama, central Japan. (KYODO NEWS VIA AP) TOKYO – A tax panel of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday agreed to raise the country's key taxes to pay for the defense budget, […]
This photo taken on June 2017 shows Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-35A stealth jet at a factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in Toyoyama, central Japan. (KYODO NEWS VIA AP) TOKYO – A tax panel of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday agreed to raise the country's key taxes to pay for the defense budget, […]
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (second left) walks past a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Type 19 155 mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer (back left) and a Type 12 surface-to-ship missile (back right) as he inspects equipment during a review at JGSDF Camp Asaka in Tokyo on Nov 27, 2021. (KIYOSHI OTA / POOL / AFP) […]
Japan's Minister of Finance Shunichi Suzuki arrives at the prime minister's office on Aug 10, 2022, in Tokyo. (SHUJI KAJIYAMA / AP) TOKYO – Japan must stick to its target of a primary budget surplus by the 2025 fiscal year, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday, even as a planned increase in defense spending […]
TOKYO, Dec 9, 2022 – (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) – The Government of Japan today announced the joint development of the country’s next-generation fighter together with partners in the U.K. and Italy. In recent years, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has developed cutting-edge technologies for fighter through diverse research initiatives, including the “X-2,” an advanced […]
Japan's Minister of Finance Shunichi Suzuki arrives at the prime minister's office on Aug 10, 2022, in Tokyo. (SHUJI KAJIYAMA / AP) TOKYO – Japan must stick to its target of a primary budget surplus by the 2025 fiscal year, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday, even as a planned increase in defense spending […]
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar (right) welcomes Finnish Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen at Ministry of National Defense in Ankara, on Dec 8, 2022. (HANDOUT / TURKISH DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP) ANKARA – Turkish and Finnish defense ministers met on Thursday as Türkiye urges the Nordic country to lift the embargo on its defense industries […]
A New Zealand Navy recruitment advertisement is displayed in Wellington, New Zealand, Dec 7, 2022. (LUCY CRAYMER / REUTERS) WELLINGTON – Three of New Zealand's nine naval ships are sitting idle in port as higher civilian salaries lure personnel out of the military, the country's Defense Force said on Wednesday, even as tensions in the […]
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, speaks during a news conference with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the State Department, Dec 6, 2022, in Washington. (MANUEL BALCE CENETA / AP) WASHINGTON – The United States will increase the rotational […]
Banknotes of Japanese yen are seen in this illustration picture taken Sept 23, 2022. (FLORENCE LO / ILLUSTRATION / REUTERS) TOKYO- Japan is set to earmark 40 trillion to 45 trillion yen ($295 billion-$333 billion) for defense spending over five years starting in the next fiscal year, which begins in April, three sources with knowledge […]
In this handout photograph released by Press Office of the Ministry of National Defence of Turkey on Nov 20, 2022, Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar (right) chairs a new air operation in northern regions of Iraq and Syria with members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) command level at the Turkish Air Force Operations Centre […]
This general view shows members in the chamber during the opening session of the lower house of parliament in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan 18, 2021. (KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP) TOKYO – Japan's second supplementary stimulus budget for this fiscal year, amounting to 29 trillion yen ($210 billion), cleared the lower house of parliament on Tuesday, […]
Skyscrapers are seen in streets of Singapore. (Photo / IC) Defense ministers agree at meeting to step up efforts for harmonized security The recent meetings of ASEAN defense ministers and their dialogue partners have helped foster harmony in the region and strengthened collaboration between them, analysts say. Chheang Vannarith, president of the Asian Vision Institute, […]
State Councilor and Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe (2nd R) meets United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (2nd L) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Nov 22, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA) Mapped on charts, the dense zigzag tracks of US warships and military planes that embroider China's coastline from the Yellow Sea all the […]