Latest news with #defense
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Can the UK Afford to Defend Itself?
The British Army has been in decline, and Russia's war on Ukraine is highlighting the urgency it faces to reverse course. But that comes against a backdrop of weak UK growth and rising borrowing costs. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Pentagon says Japan must meet ‘global standard' and spend 5% of GDP on defense
The Pentagon has set a 'global standard' for Japan and other U.S. allies to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense, in the first official confirmation that Washington is asking Tokyo to pump up its defense budget even further. In a statement given to The Japan Times on Friday, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell pointed to a majority of NATO nations that have signed on to U.S. requests to boost defense spending to the 5% level, saying that 'European allies are now setting the global standard for our alliances, especially in Asia, which is 5% of GDP spending on defense.' Asked whether Parnell's remarks apply specifically to Japan, a U.S. defense official said it 'is inclusive for all of our allies across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan.' Both allies had been mum on whether the U.S. would press Japan specifically to hit the 5% target, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate panel Wednesday that there is now a "new standard for allied defense spending that all of our allies around the world, including in Asia, should move to." Ostensibly pacifist Japan has in recent years undertaken a dramatic transformation of its security policy, including a five-year plan to ramp up defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2027. Pouring even more cash into defense coffers would come with significant political costs as the government focuses on domestic economic priorities and amid growing uncertainty over how to secure funds. Japan is currently getting far less bang for its buck as inflation and the yen's diminishing value erode its plans for the country's largest military buildup in postwar history. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in April that defense spending was within striking distance of the 2% target, at 1.8% of GDP. A Defense Ministry panel of experts is reportedly set to recommend that the government consider hiking defense spending beyond 2%, and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said that future budgets "may top 2%, if needed,' depending on the security environment. However, Ishiba and senior Japanese officials have said that what is most important is the substance of strengthened defense capabilities — not arbitrary figures. The issue will be at the top of the agenda at next week's NATO leaders' summit at The Hague, which Ishiba is also set to attend. While most NATO members are on track to back U.S. President Donald Trump's demand that they invest 5% of GDP in defense, Spain on Thursday rejected the proposal, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling it 'unreasonable.' The disagreement could weaken the Trump administration's argument to Asian partners that European allies are falling in line with its demand, as any agreement to adopt a new spending guideline must be made with the consensus of all 32 NATO member states. Hegseth hinted at the U.S. push for allies to spend more during the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security conference in Singapore late last month, citing what he called an imminent and 'real' threat posed by China to democratic Taiwan — something Parnell also pointed to in his statement. 'Given the enormous military buildup of China as well as North Korea's ongoing nuclear and missile developments, it is only common sense for Asia-Pacific allies to move rapidly to step up to match Europe's pace and level of defense spending,' Parnell said. 'It is common sense because it is in our Asia-Pacific allies' own security interests, and in that of the American people's to have more balanced and fairer alliance burden-sharing with our Asian allies,' he added. Trump has railed against his country's alliance with Japan, calling the partnership — which turns 65 this year — unfair and 'one-sided,' while threatening Tokyo and other allies and partners with onerous tariffs on key sectors such as automobiles and steel.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Indonesia's Prabowo to hold talks with Putin to cement 'strategic partnership'
By Guy Faulconbridge ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) -Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin in Russia this week to explore ways to deepen what their foreign ministers cast on Tuesday as a burgeoning strategic partnership. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with his Indonesian counterpart Sugiono, said Putin will meet Prabowo in St Petersburg on Thursday. Russia is due to hold its annual economic forum this week in the northern city, at which Putin traditionally gives a keynote speech and hosts a foreign leader. Russia and Indonesia, Lavrov said, should seek to deepen their defence, security, naval and trade ties. He said Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, stood ready to help Indonesia build an atomic power station, and the two countries could hold joint military exercises. "This is a show actually of how important and strategically Indonesia thinks of its relationship with Russia," Sugiono told reporters in English. Sugiono suggested that Putin and Prabowo had "chemistry" and suggested they develop and deepen their ties "into a strategic partnership." Trade between Russia and Indonesia totals nearly $4.5 billion a year, Lavrov said, adding that bilateral trade and investment should be boosted. Indonesia became a full member of the BRICS grouping earlier this year. Indonesia last year dismissed a report in defence publication Janes that Russia had asked to base military aircraft in Papua, its easternmost province, after the issue caused concern in Australia. Papua is about 1,200 km (750 miles) north of the Australian city of Darwin. (Writing by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Mark Trevelyan and Andrew Osborn)
CNA
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CNA
CNA Correspondent - The Shangri-La Dialogue: Speed dating for defence officials
Tensions, absences and quiet chats at Asia's premier security summit. The US sent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth but China left its defence minister at home for this year's summit. CNA's Olivia Siong and Leong Wai Kit tell Arnold Gay whether Dong Jun's absence affected Beijing's messaging and why the summit is similar to speed dating, with defence officials meeting and mingling to seal alliances and agreements.
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Trump 'Golden Dome' plan tricky and expensive: experts
President Donald Trump's proposed "Golden Dome" defence system is a plan that will face mammoth technical and financial hurdles, and could increase global insecurity, experts say. Trump announced plans for the space-based system last month, saying it would eventually cost around $175 billion and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029. The planned defence shield's name is a nod to Israel's Iron Dome that has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets since 2011. But the US defence system would intercept much bigger intercontinental threats. The plan comes after a 2022 Department of defence study pointed to advances by China and Russia. Beijing is closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, while Moscow is modernising its intercontinental-range missile systems and developing advanced precision strike missiles, it said. Trump has claimed the "Golden Dome" will be "capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world". But analysts are sceptical. "I'm not holding my breath," said Thomas Withington, an associate fellow at the RUSI defence think tank. "The challenges are so significant at this stage that they may simply be unrealistic to surround in the timeframes that the Trump administration envisages." - 'Poster child for waste' - Thomas Roberts, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said the "Golden Dome" plan was based on being able to detect when a long-range missile was fired. A missile's so-called "boost phase" -- which produces a heat blast that lasts one to two minutes and can be observed from space -- is the best time to deploy defences, he said. "If you had an enormous constellation of interceptors in orbit at all times, they could be readily de-orbited -- or systematically removed from orbit -- to strike an intercontinental ballistic missile," he said. But Todd Harrison, from the American Enterprise Institute, said this would require a massive number of satellites. "It takes about 950 interceptors spread out in orbit around the Earth to ensure that at least one is always in range to intercept a missile during its boost phase," he said. But that means that if an adversary launches a salvo of ten missiles, some 9,500 interceptors would be needed to ensure at least ten are within range. "Given that China has about 350 intercontinental ballistic missiles and Russia has 306 -- not including their sub-launched ballistic missiles -- scaling a space-based interceptor system to meet the threat quickly becomes impractical." The non-partisan US Congressional Budget Office estimates that, just to stop "one or two intercontinental ballistic missiles", the United States would need a constellation of satellites costing between $161 billion to $542 billion. The US military could spend billions of dollars on research only for the next administration to nix the project, Harrison warned. "Golden Dome could become the poster child for waste and inefficiency in defence," he said. The plan also calls for developing satellites able to fire lasers at missiles to avoid too much debris on impact. But a European defence contractor said on condition of anonymity that such lasers are "still beyond what even the Americans are capable of doing". "It's just an excellent way to give the US (defence) industry substantial funding so they can increase their technological lead without necessarily aiming for actual operational deployment," the contractor said. - 'Global arms race'? - Trump's plan is reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan ambition for a Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s, which also sought to place interceptor satellites in space. China and Russia, which both have nuclear weapons, have slammed the latest plan as "deeply destabilising". Nuclear-armed North Korea has called the plan a "very dangerous" threat. Julia Cournoyer, research associate at Chatham House, said the plan was risky as adversaries would likely see it "as an attempt to undermine the logic of nuclear deterrence". "If Washington is perceived to be developing a shield that could one day neutralise a retaliatory nuclear strike, it risks triggering a dangerous global arms race," which would exacerbate rather than reduce risk. Withington said Trump might be hoping to use the plan as leverage for talks with China and Russia. "It may be that the Trump administration is hoping that this would bring both countries to some kind of negotiating table to talk about a reduction of nuclear warhead sizes or to revitalise the arms control agenda," he said. mra/ah/as/gv
