MGG Geopolitics

Defence and geopolitics in an age of great power competition.

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UK Commits £26 Billion to Naval Bases, Including £15.1 Billion for Faslane

Britain will invest approximately £26 billion over the next decade to modernise the Royal Navy’s three main bases, including £15.1 billion for HM Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, in what the Ministry of Defence calls the largest naval infrastructure programme since the end of the Cold War. Defence Minister Luke Pollard confirmed the funding on Tuesday during a visit to HMNB Clyde. The government forecasts investment of £7.1 billion at Devonport in Plymouth and £3.9 billion at Portsmouth on the Sole

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 15, 2026 — 2 min read

Papua New Guinea Opens Allied Military Drill Days After Australia Defence Pact Takes Effect

Analysis

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 14, 2026 — 3 min read

How US Missile Deployments Near Taiwan Are Becoming a Fixture in the Philippines

Analysis United States

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 14, 2026 — 4 min read

Germany Funds 50,000 AI-Guided Drones Built to Hunt Through Russian Jamming

News Defence Exports

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 14, 2026 — 3 min read

US Deepens Guam Submarine Support Amid China Missile Threat

The US Navy is building Guam into a more capable submarine hub, able to keep its boats ready closer to potential flashpoints in Asia. The arrival of USS Tucson this month—an outwardly routine exchange of one vessel for another—highlights the supporting network behind that effort. USS Tucson, a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine commissioned in 1995, reached its new home port at Naval Base Guam in July. Navy photographs and captions show the boat arriving on 10 July, although the

Analysis Naval

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 13, 2026 — 3 min read

UK Places First Contracts in European Race for Cheap Drone Defences

Britain has awarded £3.16 million ($4.2 million) to three companies developing low-cost weapons to intercept drones, becoming the first of five European partners to place national contracts under a joint air-defence initiative. The relatively modest awards address one of the most pressing problems exposed by recent conflicts: inexpensive drones can be produced and launched faster than conventional air-defence missiles can be built or replenished. Russia launched an average of 208 Shahed-type d

News Europe

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 13, 2026 — 2 min read

Canada’s TKMS Submarine Bet Comes With Strategic Costs

Canada has chosen a highly capable German submarine and a partnership that fits comfortably within its established NATO role. It has also passed up a rarer opportunity to connect its Arctic defence requirements with its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on 6 July that TKMS had been selected as the preferred supplier for as many as 12 new submarines, beating South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean in the largest defence procurement Canada has attempted. The German shipbuild

Analysis Defence Exports

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 11, 2026 — 4 min read

Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness: Is the Quad Moving Fast Enough?

The Indo-Pacific maritime surveillance picture is becoming clearer. In May 2026, Australia, India, Japan and the United States launched the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration, or IPMSC. The new Quad initiative will coordinate national surveillance efforts, facilitate real-time information sharing and initially concentrate on the Indian Ocean. The announcement builds upon the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, known as IPMDA. Launched in 2022, IPMDA supplies r

Analysis Naval

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 10, 2026 — 7 min read

Indo-Pacific

China's Submarine Missile Test in the Pacific: Why It Matters

China test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile into the South Pacific on Monday, dropping a dummy warhead inside the South Pacific's nuclear-free zone within hours of Australia and Fiji signing a mutual defence pact. The People's Liberation Army Navy described the launch as routine annual training that complied with international law and was aimed at no particular country. State media reported the missile struck its designated target in the open ocean after a launch at 12:01pm local ti

Analysis Indo-Pacific

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 6, 2026 — 4 min read

Australia-India Uranium Deal Would Test the Quad's New Energy Agenda

India is pushing to convert a decade-old nuclear agreement that has barely been used into a working uranium trade when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Australia this week. Should a commercial supply deal follow, it would offer one of the first hard tests of whether the energy-security agenda the Quad declared in May can translate into trusted supply chains in a sensitive sector. Modi is due in Melbourne for the third India-Australia Annual Summit, part of a three-nation tour that also take

Analysis Indo-Pacific

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 6, 2026 — 3 min read

Why the US Marines Are Betting on Israel's Iron Dome to Survive a Pacific War

The US Marine Corps has moved an Iron Dome-derived air-defence system into the Western Pacific, closing a gap in its own Pacific war plan that had left forward Marines without medium-range protection for the first time in a generation. The service announced late last month that III Marine Expeditionary Force, its only permanently forward-deployed MEF, had integrated the Medium-Range Intercept Capability, known as MRIC. Marines exercised the system on Guam during Valiant Shield 2026, the multina

Analysis Indo-Pacific

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 5, 2026 — 3 min read

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Australia Accelerates Missile Shield After Live-Fire Success at Woomera

Australia and the United States shot down a cruise missile target in a first-of-type live-fire test of a prototype ground-based air defence system, as Canberra accelerates work on a missile shield to guard against growing threats in the Indo-Pacific. The Australian Defence Force fired a Standard Missile-2 at an airborne target last month at the Woomera range in South Australia, during Exercise Taipan Strike 26, the government said on Thursday. The prototype paired an Australian radar with a Uni

News Technology

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 9, 2026 — 2 min read

Belgium's €3.1 Billion Skyranger Deal Puts Rheinmetall at the Centre of Europe's Air Defence

Belgium confirmed a €3.1 billion air-defence package at the NATO summit in Ankara on 8 July, built around 20 Rheinmetall Skyranger short-range systems. The deal also takes in 10 NASAMS launchers and 14 Ground Master 200 radars, bought through existing Dutch framework contracts to speed delivery. Defence minister Theo Francken set out the plan as the country's first serious rebuild of a mobile air-defence layer it has largely gone without since the early 2010s. The systems are meant to cover cri

Europe Land Systems

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 9, 2026 — 3 min read

Lockheed Tests Guam Missile-Defence Battle Manager at Valiant Shield

Lockheed Martin tested a new command-and-control system for Guam’s missile defence during Valiant Shield 2026, demonstrating software designed to link sensors, interceptors and battle-management systems across one of the most important US military hubs in the Western Pacific. The company said the demonstration connected live and simulated data from several air and missile-defence systems taking part in the exercise, including Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications, known as C2BM

News Technology

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 8, 2026 — 2 min read

Japan Uses NATO Summit to Build Defence Links With Europe

Japan used the NATO summit in Ankara to deepen defence ties with European partners, moving beyond symbolic alignment with the alliance as Tokyo seeks a larger role in the security architecture linking Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met counterparts from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Turkey on the sidelines of the summit, while also joining NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Indo-Pacific partners Australia, New Zealand and South Korea for talks on Ukrain

Europe News

MGG Geopolitics

Jul 8, 2026 — 3 min read