By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -An Australian AI startup developing software for crewless boats said it has been granted one of the first AUKUS exemption licences by the Australian government, allowing it to share information with defence contractors in the U.S. and Britain. Defence officials have said Australia will rely more on autonomous systems to…
You’ve got to raise an eyebrow at the chutzpah of the United States demanding to know how Australia would behave militarily in the event of a Chinese conflict with Taiwan when its own president is the epitome of unreliable and unpredictable. It’s the equivalent of one partner in a marriage demanding that they receive an…
The prime minister has been forced to bat away fresh defence demands from the Trump administration on the first full day of his visit to China, insisting that Australia supports “the status quo” in regards to Taiwan. The Financial Times reported on Saturday that senior defence official Elbridge Colby — who is leading the Trump…
London – Britain will reintroduce fighter jets capable of carrying atomic weapons to support NATO’s nuclear mission, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said, as he prepares for a NATO summit Wednesday. The country will purchase 12 nuclear weapon-capable F-35A fighters, expanding the country’s deterrence arsenal, which is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles. “These F35 dual-capable…
Australia is one of America’s closest allies; the two countries have fought alongside each other in every major conflict since World War I. Jake Sullivan, former President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said in January that the two had effectively entered a “strategic marriage.” Lately, though, Australians have been feeling rather like a spouse who…
A former Australian prime minster said the Trump administration’s treatment of long-time allies was providing an opportunity for China, in remarks that came shortly before the US president delivered a personal rebuff. Malcolm Turnbull, who led Australia from 2015 until 2018, said the world is seeing a more “undiluted” version of Donald Trump in his…
Chinese defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said China expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the annual report, which was released on Wednesday. The report “misinterpreted China’s defence policy … spread rumours, slandered the Chinese military, and exaggerated the ‘China military threat’,” Zhang said in a ministry statement. The China Military Power Report has been…
Zircon from Australia could become fiercely contested by China and the United States, a geologist who works with the Chinese military has warned. While zircon is commonly valued as a gemstone, inside, it contains the metal zirconium. The metal can withstand very high temperatures, enabling ceramics, for example, to be heated to above 3,000 degrees…
Reports that China has built a prototype nuclear reactor for its next aircraft carrier have prompted renewed focus on its supposed long-term ambition to project naval power far from its shores. Carriers powered by nuclear reactors do not need to refuel as often as conventionally powered ones. This gives them much greater range and also…
Several world leaders at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro seized the opportunity to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who returned to the global stage after skipping last year’s gathering in India. Before attending the group’s scheduled meetings at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Xi held bilateral talks with…