DefenceTalkManila: America’s Pacific commander held talks with the Philippine military Wednesday on ways to strengthen US capacity in the region to deter conflict and maintain freedom of navigation, a Filipino spokesman said. Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, outlined a freshly drafted Pentagon report highlighting issues in the South China Sea, where […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-philippines-boosting-military-capacity-65171/

DefenceTalkThe Philippines can only afford a “frugal” military upgrade, defence officials said Monday, even though maritime tensions with China are growing. Despite a proposed 25 percent rise in next year’s defence budget, the government must still divide resources between external defence and internal threats like insurgencies and natural disasters, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and other […]https://www.defencetalk.com/philippines-cant-afford-military-modernization-65050/

DefenceTalkThe US Navy plans to open its famed SEAL fighting units to women, provided they can pass the notoriously difficult training course, Defense News reported Tuesday (Aug 18). The move comes as the military announced that two American women will on Friday become the first female soldiers to graduate from the elite Ranger School combat […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-to-let-women-try-out-for-navy-seals-report-65039/

DefenceTalkA US Army lab sent a live sample of anthrax to Canada by mistake and may have sent the deadly bacteria to the Pentagon’s police force as well, officials said Tuesday. The latest discoveries raised fresh questions about the Defense Department’s handling of the lethal material and the extent of the problem involving mistaken shipments […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-confirms-more-anthrax-blunders-64382/

DefenceTalkJapanese troops will take part in a major US-Australian military exercise for the first time in July, as Washington looks to bolster links among its allies in the face of an increasingly assertive China. Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) — its army — will send 40 personnel to participate in Talisman Sabre, a two-yearly drill […]https://www.defencetalk.com/japan-to-join-major-us-australia-military-drill-64325/

DefenceTalkOn Tuesday, Beijing issued its first white paper on military strategy, ushering in greater military transparency by giving details of the direction of its military buildup to other nations. The document of about 9,000 Chinese characters revealed a list of new expressions that have never before appeared in Chinese white papers. In the preface it […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-issues-first-white-paper-on-military-strategy-64302/

DefenceTalkNATO and Afghan leaders on Wednesday agreed on a framework for a future joint military-civilian presence in Afghanistan when the alliance’s current mission ends, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. While the new mission would have a military component it would notably be led by a civilian, Stoltenberg said after a session of the NATO […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-afghanistan-agree-on-future-military-civilian-mission-64205/

DefenceTalkChina’s defence ministry said on Saturday that a US report on its military which accused Beijing of ramping up land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea distorted facts, the official Xinhua news agency reported. “The US defence department’s report on China’s military and security development situation distorts facts and continues to play up the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-says-us-report-on-its-military-distorts-facts-64140/

DefenceTalkIran’s foreign minister dismissed Saturday the threat of a US military strike against Tehran’s nuclear sites, describing such warnings as an “old habit that dies hard” given ongoing diplomacy. Mohammad Javad Zarif, who leads the Iranian side in talks with six world powers that aim to end the dispute over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-option-old-habit-that-dies-hard-iran-fm-63893/

DefenceTalkThe US military is well equipped to defend the country against cyberattacks but is not yet ready to wage digital warfare, a senior defense official told lawmakers on Tuesday. The military’s cyber command, created in 2009, lacks the means to lead an offensive campaign in a fast-moving digital conflict, said Eric Rosenbach, the Pentagon’s principal […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-not-ready-to-wage-digital-attack-official-63864/