Indo-Pacific

Latest in Indo-Pacific

New imagery shows the progress made on North Korea’s shadowy airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, based on an Ilyushin Il-76 Candid airlifter, and which you can read more about in our analysis of when it first broke cover. Since the start of this year the aircraft now had its rotodome fitted, putting paid to any suggestion that it’s intended for a role other than AEW&C.
Air

Our Best Look At North Korea’s New Early-Warning Radar Plane

By Thomas Newdick

Updated on Mar 14, 2025

More imagery has appeared of China’s new ‘invasion barge,’ which involves a temporary pier that can be connected to other vessels via a barge, or series of barges, with jack-up supports. The development of jack-up barges is widely seen as part of preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan. On the other hand, they also reflect the growing use of ostensibly non-military maritime assets to support amphibious operations by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Sea

Our Best Look Yet At China’s New ‘Invasion Barges’

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 13, 2025

F-16 Fighting Falcons from Kunsan Air Base and South Korean KF-16s taxi to the runway together during Exercise Buddy Wing 14-8 at Seosan Air Base, Republic of Korea Aug. 21, 2014. The purpose of the exercise was not only to improve interoperability between U.S. Air Force and ROKAF fighter squadrons, but to practice with ROKAF KF-16 units for their first upcoming RED FLAG exercise in Alaska.
Air

South Korean F-16s Just Bombed A Town By Accident

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 6, 2025

U.S. Air Force officials remain focused on the ability to disperse forces to far-flung operating locations as the primary means of reducing vulnerability to enemy attacks.
Air

USAF Generals Downplay Calls For More Hardened Aircraft Shelters In Pacific Theater

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 5, 2025

South Korea today unveiled a new stealthy loyal wingman-type drone, the Low Observable Unmanned Wingman System, or LOWUS, which it plans to operate alongside the locally developed KF-21 Boramae next-generation fighter, among others.
Air

South Korea’s Loyal Wingman Air Combat Drone Unveiled

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 25, 2025

China’s Massive WZ-9 Divine Eagle Drone Now Operating From South China Sea Base
Air

China’s Massive WZ-9 Divine Eagle Drone Now Operating From South China Sea Base

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Feb 25, 2025

A domestically-produced F-CK-1 indigenous defence fighter jet (IDF) takes off during a visit by the island's president and the media from Penghu Air Force Base on Magong island in the Penghu islands on September 22, 2020. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP) (Photo by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)
Air

Air-Launched Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile Being Tested By Taiwan

By Thomas Newdick

Updated on Feb 25, 2025

A rare Chinese naval drill with a previously unannounced live-fire component has disrupted air traffic over and around the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
News & Features

China’s Sudden Live Fire Naval Drills Off Australia Rattle Canberra

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Feb 21, 2025

Satellite imagery shows the extent of the massive amount of work that has been done in the past year to restore more than 20 million square feet of runways and other World War II-era infrastructure at historic North Field on the U.S. island of Tinian in the Western Pacific.
Air

Massive WWII B-29 Bomber Base Fully Reclaimed For Future Pacific Fight

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 19, 2025

A Russian Sukhoi Su-57 (L) and U.S. Air Force's F-35 fifth-generation fighter aircrafts are pictured at the tarmac during Aero India 2025, a military aviation exhibition at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru on February 11, 2025. Air traffic is booming in India, even though only a tiny fraction of its people fly each year, and manufacturers are seeking lucrative deals at the flagship Aero India exhibition from February 10. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP) (Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Air

Trump Offers India Path To F-35

By Thomas Newdick

Updated on Feb 14, 2025

We may have just gotten our first sight of China’s next-generation aircraft carrier, generally referred to as the Type 004. Construction work at a shipyard in Dalian, in China’s Liaoning province, reveals a module that is consistent with an aircraft carrier — which would be China’s fourth — although there remain many questions about the precise nature of the object.
Sea

Structure At Chinese Shipyard May Point To China’s Next Aircraft Carrier’s Capabilities

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 13, 2025

At least 20 U.S. Air Force tanker aircraft, 10 KC-46s and an equal number of KC-135s, supported the first day of the latest Bamboo Eagle exercise off the California Coast, according to online flight tracking data.
Air

Tankers Flood Airspace Off The California Coast For China-Focused Air Combat Exercise

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 11, 2025

Indian drone maker NewSpace Research and Technologies has officially unveiled a new jet-powered loyal wingman-type drone called Abhimanyu.
Air

Indian Naval Collaborative Drone Concept Unveiled

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 10, 2025

Russian and American fighter jets join India's biggest air show The Aero India 2025 for the first time in New Delhi, India on February 10, 2025. For the first time in history, the air show is witnessing "the participation of two of the world's most advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft - the Russian Su-57 and the American F-35 Lightning II," the Indian Defense Ministry said.
Air

F-35 And Su-57 Face Off In India

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 10, 2025

A video showing testing of the Chinese GL-6 hard-kill active protection system underscores how systems like this to provide a valuable additional layer of defense against uncrewed aerial threats, including highly maneuverable first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones, something TWZ has previously explored in an in-depth feature.
Land

Chinese Tank’s Active Protection System Seen Intercepting Drone-Fired Rocket Propelled Grenade

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 7, 2025

Ukrainian Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) disputes claims that North Korean troops have fled the front lines in Kursk.
News & Features

Ukraine’s Intel Chief Disputes Claim That North Koreans Have Fled The Russian Front

By Howard Altman

Updated on Feb 1, 2025