Fixed defence spending or 2% of GDP?
By Marcus Hellyer*
Tuesday 12 May was to have been budget night, until Covid-19 intervened and the government moved the 2020–21 budget release to 6...
US Navy flexing, despite Covid
The Pacific Fleet Submarine Force took the unusual step this month of announcing that all of its forward-deployed subs were simultaneously conducting “contingency response...
Japan’s role critical in US-China conflict
By Bertil Lintner
When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last month that the Covid-19 pandemic was the biggest national crisis since World War II,...
China’s belligerence under cover of COVID
By Trinh Le
Around midnight on 2 April, a Vietnamese fishing vessel sank in the disputed waters in the South China Sea after allegedly being rammed by...
N-subs and balance of power in Indo-Pacific
By James Goldrick
The maritime strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific is changing rapidly. The future of undersea nuclear deterrent forces has strategic, operational and force...
In defence, Australia should be an echidna
By Sam Roggeveen
Foreign Editor for The Australian, Greg Sheridan, got his hands on a copy of the yet-to-be-released Defence Strategic Update, and he wrote about it over...
China plays divide and rule
Chinese propagandists have had a field day with a violent incident in the South China Sea which for once didn’t involve its own aggression,...
Will US lease Cam Ranh Bay?
By Carl Thayer*
Rumors are circulating that Vietnam is considering leasing Cam Ranh Bay or some of its islands in the South China Sea to...
Australia’s dependence on maritime trade
By Peter Jones*
Earlier this year the Australian Naval Institute (ANI) and the Naval Studies Group at the University of New South Wales (Canberra) released a joint report titled: Protecting Australian Maritime...
Predictable strategy, unpredictable operations
By Carlyle A. Thayer
The U.S Navy. vessel, USS Bunker Hill conducted two FONOPs on April 28th and 29th in the Paracel and Spratly Islands, respectively. How...