Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Ukrainian soil on February 25, 2025, in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov via Getty Images)
The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald fires the first Naval Strike Missile from a US destroyer on July 18, 2024, in the Pacific Ocean. (US Navy photo)
Fast-attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) enters Dry Dock 1 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Hawaii, on September 4, 2024. (US Navy photo by Justice Vannatta)
A South Korean Army K1E1 tank crosses a pontoon bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river- crossing exercise as part of the Freedom Shield military drills with US and ROK forces in the border town of Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 20, 2025. (Getty Images)
Antony Blinken and the US delegation sit opposite Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa during the "Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting" in Tokyo on July 28, 2024. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a press conference a day after Japan's lower house election on October 28, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. (Kim Kyung-Hoon via Getty Images)
Japan's new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, arrives at the prime minister's official residence on October 1, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. (Tomohiro Ohsumi via Getty Images)
India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart Minoru Kihara leave after the guard of honour ceremony in New Delhi on August 20, 2024. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images)
The newly elected leader and sitting chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Shigeru Ishiba, speaks at a press conference following his election on September 27, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Getty Images)
US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrive for their meeting during the Quad Leaders Summit in Tokyo on May 24, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)