Indo-Pacific

Vanuatu Signed Australia's Pact While Keeping China's Door Open

Vanuatu Signed Australia's Pact While Keeping China's Door Open

Australia has the Pacific security pact it wanted with Vanuatu. What it does not have is the veto it asked for. When Anthony Albanese and his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, signed the Nakamal Agreement in Canberra on Monday, both leaders turned to the language of partnership and triumph. The treaty bars foreign military bases from the archipelago and keeps Australia as Vanuatu's primary policing partner. Canberra has also committed to long-term development funding, a figure first set at A$5
Analysis Indo-Pacific
MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics
US Reveals Its Stealth Bomber Can Sink Ships in Warning to China

US Reveals Its Stealth Bomber Can Sink Ships in Warning to China

The US Air Force has disclosed for the first time that its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber can launch the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile, revealing a penetrating maritime-strike capability designed to hold China's expanding navy at risk. Pacific Air Forces announced on Monday, 29 June, that it had conducted a live-fire sinking exercise north of the Mariana Islands in which a B-2 fired the Lockheed Martin AGM-158C LRASM at a surface target. The drill formed part of Exercise Valiant Shield 2026, with the
News Indo-Pacific
MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics
China-Russia Bombers Patrol Sea of Japan Again as Joint Missions Become Routine

China-Russia Bombers Patrol Sea of Japan Again as Joint Missions Become Routine

The 11th joint strategic air patrol flown by China and Russia on June 27, over waters near Japan and South Korea, will read to many in the region as just another entry in a lengthening logbook. That sense of routine is the point. What began in 2019 as a single, attention-grabbing flight of Chinese H-6K and Russian Tu-95MS bombers close to Japanese airspace has settled into a fixture of the regional calendar, and the steady accumulation of these missions has become the message that Moscow and Bei
Analysis Indo-Pacific
MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics
Australia's New Spy Jet Patrols Northern Waters as China Pushes South

Australia's New Spy Jet Patrols Northern Waters as China Pushes South

Australia has begun flying its newest surveillance and electronic-warfare aircraft from the country's north, widening its ability to track Chinese military movements through its maritime approaches as Beijing sends its navy further south. An MC-55A Peregrine from the Royal Australian Air Force's 10 Squadron deployed to RAAF Base Darwin this month for its first operational test and evaluation flights, the Department of Defence said. The missions resemble the maritime patrols flown by the air for
News Indo-Pacific
MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics
Why Japan's Warship Exports Are Reshaping Indo-Pacific Power

Why Japan's Warship Exports Are Reshaping Indo-Pacific Power

When reports emerged in late April that Japan had offered India the design plans for its prized Mogami-class frigate, the significance went well beyond a single contract. According to the South China Morning Post, Tokyo proposed letting India build the ships in its own yards using Japanese materials, with each hull costing about US$500 million and armed with anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It is also the clearest sign yet of a strategy that is reshaping naval power across the region. Japan is
Analysis Indo-Pacific
MGG Geopolitics

MGG Geopolitics