F-16 Fighting Falcon aircrafts are prepared for a mission during Operation Noble Defender at Pittufik Space Base in Greenland on January 30, 2025. (US Air Force)
Cover: Edited version of US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps aircraft along with US Army Patriot missile batteries line up on the runway for an elephant walk during a routine operational readiness exercise at Kadena Air Base in Japan on May 6, 2025. (US Air Force)
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs Priti Patel MP listens during a press conference on May 19, 2025, in London, England. (Getty Images)
F-16 Fighting Falcon aircrafts are prepared for a mission during Operation Noble Defender at Pittufik Space Base in Greenland on January 30, 2025. (US Air Force)
Cover: Edited version of US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps aircraft along with US Army Patriot missile batteries line up on the runway for an elephant walk during a routine operational readiness exercise at Kadena Air Base in Japan on May 6, 2025. (US Air Force)
A worker inspects the form of the shaped steel billets following the press stage in the manufacturing process of 155mm caliber shells at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Pennsylvania on April 16, 2024. (Getty Images)
Iran Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defense Ministers' Meeting on June 26, 2025 in Shanghai, China. (Fu Tian via Getty Images)
A soldier from the 47th Brigade's mortar crew, Varvara with the call sign 'Kosa', aims a mortar for firing on August 12, 2025 in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach via Getty Images)
Chinese honor guards participate in a welcome ceremony in Tianjin, China, on August 31, 2025, as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. (Vladimir Smirnov via Getty Images)
Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute