DefenceTalkRussia’s defence ministry said Tuesday that its navy had fired test anti-ship missiles at mock targets in the Sea of Japan during military exercises. Russia’s Pacific Fleet drills came a week after Tokyo’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine. Moscow holds regular drills off its Far East coast, but Tokyo said these were “increasing” and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-says-fired-anti-ship-missiles-at-mock-target-in-sea-of-japan-79993/

DefenceTalkThe Chinese military said it warned a US warship to “leave” waters in the disputed South China Sea on Thursday, claims swiftly denied as “false” by American forces. China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea — a strategic waterway through which trillions of dollars in trade pass annually — despite an international […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chinese-military-says-warned-us-warship-to-leave-s-china-sea-79976/

DefenceTalkAustralia has unveiled plans to buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines, then build a new model with US and British technology under an ambitious plan to bulk up Western muscle across the Asia-Pacific in the face of a rising China. The announcement came Monday at an event at a San Diego, California, naval base […]https://www.defencetalk.com/australia-to-buy-us-nuclear-subs-in-ambitious-new-pact-79939/

DefenceTalkThe United States, Japan, India and Australia expressed concern Friday over the militarization of Asia’s waters, in a veiled reference to China’s growing presence in contested seas. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the foreign ministers of the other three nations assembled in New Delhi under the auspices of their Quad grouping. In a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/quad-powers-concerned-over-militarisation-in-asian-seas-79921/

DefenceTalkSouth Africa’s military on Wednesday defended its decision to host controversial naval exercises jointly staged with Russia and China and coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Originally slated to start last week, the exercise dubbed Mosi-II kicked off on Wednesday along South Africa’s eastern coast. But coming on the eve […]https://www.defencetalk.com/south-africa-army-defends-naval-drills-with-russia-79883/

DefenceTalkAn American warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, the US Navy said, in a move likely to anger Beijing. The guided missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Jan. 5 (local time) through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” the Navy said […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-navy-warship-transits-through-taiwan-strait-79707/

DefenceTalkThe US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier embarked on its maiden deployment Tuesday, a milestone for a ship that has suffered problems with some of the advanced technologies it carries. The USS Gerald R. Ford — which cost more than $13 billion — will work with countries including Canada, France and Germany during a deployment that […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-navys-13bn-aircraft-carrier-embarks-on-first-deployment-79473/

DefenceTalkIsrael on Sunday praised a US proposal to resolve the country’s maritime border dispute with Lebanon, building further momentum towards an agreement between two nations still technically at war. The draft agreement floated by US envoy Amos Hochstein aims to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields and was delivered to Lebanese and Israeli officials […]https://www.defencetalk.com/israel-praises-us-proposal-for-lebanon-maritime-border-deal-79463/

DefenceTalkSouth Korea and the United States began their first combined naval exercise near the peninsula in five years on Monday, a day after Pyongyang conducted a ballistic missile launch. Washington is Seoul’s key security ally and stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it from the nuclear-armed North. South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-south-korea-begin-naval-drills-after-norths-missile-test-79442/

DefenceTalkIran’s recent seizure of unmanned US Navy boats shined a light on a pioneering Pentagon program to develop networks of air, surface and underwater drones for patrolling large regions, meshing their surveillance with artificial intelligence. The year-old program operates numerous unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, in the waters around the Arabian peninsula, gathering data and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-combines-sea-drones-ai-to-police-gulf-region-79378/