Defence and National Security

Tokyo says the sighting of two Chinese aircraft carriers in its economic zone shows Beijing is pushing further into the Pacific than before.

The Mogami-class frigate's arrival in Darwin comes as Japan competes with Germany to secure a $10 billion Australian defence contract.

The new funds towards missiles and submarines came as NATO publicly urged European nations to increase their defence budgets.

North Korea has raised a capsized warship and moored it at a pier in the north-eastern port of Chongjin, as it continues to repair the new vessel. Leader Kim Jong Un has described it as a significant asset for his nuclear-armed military.

The Department of Defence has acknowledged that HMAS Canberra accidentally took out a number of wireless internet and radio services across New Zealand. 

The Solomon Islands government blocked a group of Taiwanese officials from entering the Pacific country earlier this year, stirring fresh concerns in Taipei that it might be locked out of a key regional meeting in Honiara later this year.

Australia's defence chief has issued a very deliberate warning about the dangerous outlook facing Australia.

The US president and his Russian counterpart have spoken on the phone for more than an hour about the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow as well as Ukraine's audacious attack deep inside Russia.

Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston, says the nation must be prepared for having to launch combat operations from its own soil — a significant shift in military thinking not seen since World War II.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the "moment has arrived to transform how we defend ourselves" but has not given a date for when UK defence spending will rise to 3 per cent of GDP. 

Ukraine's security services say they have destroyed 34 per cent of Russia's air missile carriers with a bold drone attack. Here's what we know.

The United States wants Australia to lift spending on defence to about $100 billion a year, with its Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warning of a "real and potentially imminent" threat from China. 

China has rejected the US Defense Secretary's claims of an imminent invasion of Taiwan as "groundless accusations".

China has accused the US of making "groundless accusations" about developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. 

The deputy PM's comments followed assurances from US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that the Trump administration would not abandon its allies in the Indo-Pacific to Chinese military and economic pressure.

Australia is on track to reach defence spending levels of 2.33 per cent of GDP by 2033-34 but for months the Trump Administration has pressured the government to get to at least three per cent of GDP. 

Up to eight people, believed to be from China, have been detained by border protection authorities after reaching a remote part of the Northern Territory coast by boat earlier this week. 

The Darwin facility's 11 massive fuel tanks have not been built to withstand a category three cyclone, and an environmental impact assessment was not undertaken.

The prime minister has lashed out at one of the country's leading security think tanks and demanded it "have a look at themselves" after it warned Australia could be left with a "brittle and hollowed defence force" if military funding was not increased.

An engineering report has revealed 11 massive fuel tanks built unlawfully on Darwin Harbour for the US military are not designed to withstand a category three cyclone.