Philippines KF-21 Boramae Acquisition: A Strategic Shift in South China Sea Air Power The Philippines is currently in advanced negotiations to acquire South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae, a move that represents the largest leap in Philippine airpower in 20 years and a significant shift in the military balance of the South China Sea. After decades of operating without a…
A Taiwan Invasion Would Be an Emergency for Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea — Why Prime Minister Takaichi Is Right When Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi declared that “a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be an emergency for Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea and Japan will support the United States in the defence of…
How the Philippines Is Building a Missile Wall Against China — From BrahMos to Chu-SAM The Philippines is undergoing the fastest military transformation in Southeast Asia, evolving from a lightly equipped archipelago into a missile-armed frontline power at the heart of the West Philippine Sea. This shift comes at a moment when China has intensified…
China’s Growing Flotilla: Satellite Images Reveal New Flashpoints in the West Philippine Sea In December 2025, new satellite evidence from BBC Verify exposed a dramatic escalation in China’s naval posture across the Philippine Sea, revealing flotillas being resupplied at sea, far from home, and operating with the endurance of a true blue-water navy. What Philippine…
How the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry ‘Agila’ Division Is Rewriting AFP Strategy For decades, the Armed Forces of the Philippines built its doctrine around internal security, fighting insurgents in jungles, mountains, and far-flung barangays. But that era has ended, and a historic strategic pivot has begun. What was once a military shaped by counterinsurgency is…
Japan Plans to Export Military Command & Control System to the Philippines Japan has a long history of not exporting weapons. However, sending the Philippines its first military command and control systems changes the situation. What does this mean for the countries of the Indo-Pacific? Japan and the Philippines are constructing networks and systems and…
The Possible Transfer of Type-03 Air Defense System The Indo-Pacific is entering a turning point, and the shift is happening faster than anyone expected. For the first time in Japan’s post-war history, Tokyo is seriously considering the export of a frontline air-defense weapon, the Type-03 Chu-SAM, to the Philippines. Ten years ago, this would have…
The Japan–Philippines security axis is accelerating faster than any other defense partnership in the Indo-Pacific, and the latest development marks another leap forward. On November 26, 2025, Philippine Navy Chief Vice Adm. Jose Ma. Ambrosio Ezpeleta confirmed that Manila is now seeking five additional retired TC-90 maritime patrol aircraft from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, a…
Taiwan now stands at a decisive moment as Chinese pressure reaches historic highs across its skies and seas, raising a fundamental question with enormous strategic consequences: should Taipei expose Beijing’s airspace and EEZ violations the way the Philippines exposes coercion in the South China Sea? Chinese military activity has surged at a scale the world…
For the first time in modern Asian geopolitics, Japan and the Philippines, two U.S. allies with very different histories and defense traditions, have entered a legally binding military pact that allows their troops, ships, and aircraft to operate on each other’s soil. It is a dramatic evolution, something almost unthinkable a decade ago, yet it…
