Author: Michael

When journalists or policy experts fretfully discuss arms racing and military buildups in the Indo-Pacific, they tend to focus on Northeast Asian autocracies rather than Southeast Asian democracies. And yet Indonesia, a historically non-aligned nation with no recent history of great-power war, is currently engaged in a process of unprecedented military expansion. If fully realized, this sweeping set of reforms will grow its total active-duty personnel to over 1.2 million in just five years.

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The Iraqi Defence Ministry is currently holding talks to procure K2 Black Panther main battle tanks from South Korea, with a possible acquisition o up to 250 vehicles having the potential to make its tank fleet the most capable in the Middle East. A high-level Iraqi delegation visited Hyundai Rotem’s production facilities in the summer of 2025, with a contract valued at roughly $6.5 billion reported by South Korean analysts to be expected to be signed later in 2026. Following the U.S.

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