MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics


Australia Accelerates Missile Shield After Live-Fire Success at Woomera
Photo courtesy of the Australian Department of Defence

Australia Accelerates Missile Shield After Live-Fire Success at Woomera

Australia and the United States shot down a cruise missile target in a first-of-type live-fire test of a prototype ground-based air defence system, as Canberra accelerates work on a missile shield to guard against growing threats in the Indo-Pacific. The Australian Defence Force fired a Standard Missile-2 at an airborne target last month at the Woomera range in South Australia, during Exercise Taipan Strike 26, the government said on Thursday. The prototype paired an Australian radar with a Uni


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

Belgium's €3.1 Billion Skyranger Deal Puts Rheinmetall at the Centre of Europe's Air Defence

Belgium's €3.1 Billion Skyranger Deal Puts Rheinmetall at the Centre of Europe's Air Defence

Belgium confirmed a €3.1 billion air-defence package at the NATO summit in Ankara on 8 July, built around 20 Rheinmetall Skyranger short-range systems. The deal also takes in 10 NASAMS launchers and 14 Ground Master 200 radars, bought through existing Dutch framework contracts to speed delivery. Defence minister Theo Francken set out the plan as the country's first serious rebuild of a mobile air-defence layer it has largely gone without since the early 2010s. The systems are meant to cover cri


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

Lockheed Tests Guam Missile-Defence Battle Manager at Valiant Shield

Lockheed Tests Guam Missile-Defence Battle Manager at Valiant Shield

Lockheed Martin tested a new command-and-control system for Guam’s missile defence during Valiant Shield 2026, demonstrating software designed to link sensors, interceptors and battle-management systems across one of the most important US military hubs in the Western Pacific. The company said the demonstration connected live and simulated data from several air and missile-defence systems taking part in the exercise, including Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications, known as C2BM


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

Japan Uses NATO Summit to Build Defence Links With Europe

Japan Uses NATO Summit to Build Defence Links With Europe

Japan used the NATO summit in Ankara to deepen defence ties with European partners, moving beyond symbolic alignment with the alliance as Tokyo seeks a larger role in the security architecture linking Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met counterparts from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Turkey on the sidelines of the summit, while also joining NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Indo-Pacific partners Australia, New Zealand and South Korea for talks on Ukrain


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

US Navy Tests UUVs and Harpoon Missile Strikes at RIMPAC 2026

US Navy Tests UUVs and Harpoon Missile Strikes at RIMPAC 2026

The US Navy is using RIMPAC 2026 to test how unmanned underwater drones can support submarine targeting and long-range anti-ship fires, a pairing it says is central to holding its edge under the Pacific as China’s own submarine fleet keeps growing. Commander, Submarine Force, US Pacific Fleet, known as COMSUBPAC, said this year’s exercise highlights two capabilities: unmanned undersea vehicles that simulate autonomous operations in contested waters and provide targeting data, and submarines sch


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

What CARAT Thailand Reveals About Indo-Pacific Alliances: A Web of Diverging Interests

What CARAT Thailand Reveals About Indo-Pacific Alliances: A Web of Diverging Interests

Thai and American forces opened the 32nd iteration of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, known as CARAT, at Sattahip on 6 July. This year's version included two firsts: the debut of US Coast Guard fast response cutters in the exercise, and the integration of a Royal Canadian Navy boarding team alongside American and Thai sailors. The opening ceremony produced the expected images of allied unity, with a Thai admiral and an American admiral shaking hands at Laem Tian Pier. Look past the h


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

Four NATO States Order Up to Five MQ-4C Triton Surveillance Drones

Four NATO States Order Up to Five MQ-4C Triton Surveillance Drones

Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway agreed to acquire up to five Northrop Grumman Corp. MQ-4C Triton surveillance aircraft for NATO, signing a letter of intent on Tuesday at the alliance's annual summit in Ankara. The high-altitude drones would join NATO's alliance-owned intelligence force and watch the seas from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, giving commanders a persistent maritime picture as Russian naval and submarine activity rises across the North Atlantic. Northrop would build the airc


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics

Denmark’s P-8 Buy Shows Boeing Is Winning Europe’s Submarine-Hunting North

Denmark’s P-8 Buy Shows Boeing Is Winning Europe’s Submarine-Hunting North

Denmark is buying Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, joining a northern group of NATO allies that are standardising around the same American submarine-hunting jet as Russia’s undersea threat returns to the centre of European defence planning. Copenhagen said on Tuesday it would acquire two P-8As from Boeing to strengthen surveillance around Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Danish waters. The decision follows a US State Department approval in December for a possible sale of up to thr


MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics