The privatisation of provocation
By Cory Alpert*
In mid-June, a small maritime drone, no larger than a car, got close enough to a Chinese warship to photograph it operating...
Philippines’ new South China Sea strategy
By Xiaobo Liu and Sophie Wushuang Yi*
When China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Philippine counterpart Tess Lazaro on the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering...
A wider role for the US Coast Guard
By Bruce Stubbs
I. Introduction
The United States should designate the U.S. Coast Guard as its lead agency for maritime security in the Western Hemisphere. In...
Trump-class ships to cost $275bn
The potential cost of the Navy’s new nuclear-powered battleship procurement program is estimated to be $275 billion, with the first Trump-class battleship (BBG(X)) costing...
CDF address to 2026 Australian Defence Summit
This speech was delivered by Admiral Mark Hammond on 4 August and is one of his first since becoming CDF.
It is a pleasure to...
From the ANI archive: The FFG upgrade
The mid-life modernisation of surface combatants has been a vexed issue over the history of the RAN. When to do it? How comprehensive? Is...
China vetting US’s mistakes in Iran
Wars are unpredictable. In the immortal words of Niccolò Machiavelli, “wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please”. What...
Protecting freedom of the seas
By Simon Tisdall
The US military campaign to protect merchant shipping from Iranian attacks by asserting direct maritime control in the strait of Hormuz is...
Australia’s Indian Ocean vulnerability
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the US-Iran war has brought home how vital maritime trading routes are to a country like...
HMAS Leeuwin maps PNG seabed
Australian Navy hydrographic survey ship HMAS Leeuwin has utilised a new capability to provide extremely detailed, 3D images of the sea floor during its survey deployment...