Called the Guardian Angel, the four-wheeled UGV has already completed live-fire testing.

Thales Australia worked with two other Australian firms to create the new system. One was Chaos 1, which specializes in rapid assessments, prototyping and autonomous-system experimentation.

The second company was W&E Platt, which makes weapon mounts. Indeed, the Guardian Angel features its low-cost Remote Operated Weapon PLATTform, with an image showing the ROWP mounting a Dillon M134D Minigun.

Thales Australia said in a statement that this project showcases its “sovereign industrial strength, ability to meet the nation’s defense and security needs, and capacity to deliver and manufacture autonomous systems and solutions”.

The company said the project was driven by one aim: to keep Australian troops safe.

However, a spokesperson explained to Defense News, “The Guardian Angel is a prototype and wasn’t specifically built for market. It’s part of a program to test and strengthen our capability in autonomous systems and solutions.”

Nonetheless, its completion paves the way for future platforms, in which a containerized mission system could offer capabilities such as medical evacuation, troop support, cargo transport and fire support.

“UGVs can preserve soldiers by operating in high-risk environments while providing a clear tactical advantage, assisting operations on the battlefield,” Andrew Downes, vice president of Land Thales Australia, commented. “They offer scalable, agile, cost-effective capability that can increase operational reach without increasing risk to personnel.”

Meanwhile, Benny Johanson, Founder and CEO of Chaos 1, described the process as “rapid prototyping in true form — little time, extremely chaotic and high risk.“

“In just six weeks we moved from a concept graphic to live-fire demonstration, and many said it couldn’t be done,” Johanson said, adding that the Guardian Angel “proved the sheer horsepower industry can generate for the warfighter at speed.”

Australian industry has developed a number of UGV designs, and the army is actively experimenting with some of them. For instance, it is trialing M113AS4 armored personnel carriers converted into modular robotic vehicles by BAE Systems Australia.

BAE Systems Australia’s largest platform is the ATLAS 8×8, fitted with an unmanned turret and 25mm Bushmaster cannon. It is currently in a prototype demonstrator status.

The Australian Army has also tested the tracked Warfighter UGV from Cyborg Dynamics Engineering. The army is already using the Ground Uncrewed System, affectionately known as GUS and produced by Outlook Industries, for remote coastal surveillance.

A couple of attritable UGV platforms also being tested are GaardTech’s Jaegar-C and DefendTex’s Banshee, small vehicles that can carry kinetic payloads.

“We’re about to bring into the next exercise UGVs. We can practice breaching minefields, for example, with sacrificial UGVs that might drag a tube full of explosives across a minefield — and we can detonate that,” Brigadier Ben McLennan, commander of the Australian Army’s 3rd Brigade, recently told Defense News. “That’s just one application. There’s a raft of other applications we’re making.”

Lorenzo Mariani, Leonardo’s CEO and General Manager, said: “The introduction of the M-346F in Indonesia provides clear evidence not only of the aircraft system’s inherent quality, but also of the country’s continued and yet growing trust in our capabilities across domains.”

Leonardo said the sale “includes the localization of a range of support, maintenance, overhaul and training capabilities, as well as human capital development.”

The Italian-built M-346 is well known as an advanced jet trainer, but the F variant is a dedicated, multirole, light fighter. It has an active electronically scanned array radar, Link 16 data link, seven hardpoints for carrying weapons, aerial refueling capability and electronic countermeasures system.

The first M-346s should be handed over to Jakarta in 2030. This will make Indonesia the 23rd operator of the M-346, but the first Asian customer of the newest Block 20 variant.

“Just eight months after the first order, strong and rapid global demand for the latest version of the aircraft clearly demonstrates it is meeting customer requirements,” reads a Leonardo statement. The firm said the M-346 has logged 170,000+ flight hours to date.

Indonesia is currently inducting Dassault’s Rafale fighter, but the air force maintains a hotchpotch fleet that includes the American F-16, Russian Su-27/Su-30 and Korean T-50i.

Jakarta invested in the Korean KF-21’s development, and it has also professed devotion to the Turkish Kaan. However, neither has resulted in production contracts yet. Indonesia’s defense minister has also expressed a desire for the Chinese J-10.

If all these aspirations came true, Indonesia would end up operating perhaps the world’s most complicated and varied fleet of combat aircraft.

“The Indonesian Armed Forces have been facing existing challenges related to interoperability,” Alban Sciascia, director of consultancy firm PT Semar Sentinel Indonesia, told Defense News. “It’s no secret that Indonesia has been focusing on procuring different equipment from different countries, as part of its diversification strategy, and that its joint operations concept is limited because of the relative inability to get all this equipment interoperating on the battlefield.”

Meanwhile, Leonardo, PT ESystem Solutions and the Indonesian Ministry of Defense also signed a letter of intent on July 21 for the prospective procurement of Leonardo AW149 medium helicopters for the Indonesian Navy.

“If followed by a contract, this could lead to the supply of AW149 helicopters for search and rescue and disaster relief, for both land-based and embarked operations,” Leonardo said in a statement.

The navy currently operates eleven Airbus AS565 Panther helicopters, but as guardian of the world’s largest archipelagic waters, it has a requirement for more shipboard helicopters.

After dawdling over the need to improve its ground-based air defense (GBAD) capabilities, Australia — with American assistance — is prioritizing a hybrid solution that takes sensors, software and weapons already in the Australian inventory.

This first-of-type integration, which successfully fired an SM-2 interceptor missile, offers an alternative to buying expensive Patriot-type air defense systems, for example.

A Department of Defence press statement said the SM-2 test “followed a period of close collaboration, innovation and engineering to produce this successful prototype.”

Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy were heavily involved, for example.

Piece of the puzzle

During Exercise Taipan Strike 2026, an SM-2 was launched from a Derringer trailer-mounted launcher – also called the Expeditionary Launch System – at the Woomera test range in the south of Australia.

To shoot down a BQM-74E target drone, the SM-2 was controlled by a virtualized Lockheed Martin Aegis combat system, and guided by a phased-array radar from Australian firm CEA Technologies.

Aegis, normally utilized aboard warships, was deployed in a small-scale, expeditionary form factor. The Aegis test setup was based on the baseline version found on the Australian navy’s Hunter-class frigates and Hobart-class destroyers.

In a statement to Defense News, Lockheed Martin said this approach “unlocks cross-service integration and interoperability, delivering greater capability and value.”

Jeremy King, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, also remarked that “this prototype system leverages existing weapons, launchers and command and control. It can fire any of the weapons currently fielded on the Hobart-class destroyers or future Hunter-class frigates.”

This is an important revelation for the Royal Australian Navy, as the service has the SM-2 Block IIIB and Block IIIC missiles in its inventory, as well as the SM-6.

The SM-6 could now be considered a candidate for an Australian defense against ballistic missiles. However, this would require a strike-length variant of the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System on the mobile Derringer launcher.

Taking aiming at GBAD

The novel Australian air-defense technology pairing appears to have been on the drawing board for a while, at least conceptually.

“When you have a limited [missile] inventory, you want to be able to be as flexible as possible, so that might be using maritime stocks on land, it might be using land stocks in the maritime domain,” Air Vice-Marshal Nick Hogan, head of Air Force Capability told Defense News last year. “There are many options to go forward. What we’re trying to do is make sure, where possible, we can get the biggest return on investment using sovereign capabilities.”

Australia’s 2023 Defence Strategic Review urged, instead of “pursuing a long-term, near-perfect solution at unaffordable cost,” that Canberra should allocate sufficient resources “to deliver the initial capability in a timely way”.

Later, the 2026 National Defence Strategy called for “accelerated introduction of medium-range, ground-based, active missile defense through investment in missile launchers and munitions and integrating them with … command-and-control systems.”

Missile threats

The same document identified missile defense as a priority, with a need to protect critical defense infrastructure from long-range and high-speed missile threats.

In fact, the July 9 timing of Australia’s announcement of the SM-2 test was significant. The test had actually been conducted a month earlier, but Canberra publicized it just three days after a Chinese submarine hurled a nuclear-capable ballistic missile deep into the South Pacific.

After the Chinese launch, Australia’s opposition party warned how “dangerously exposed” military bases are and the country’s insufficient ability to counter ballistic or cruise missiles.

Australian defense officials stress that the new air-defense weapon is still a work in progress. However, the test reduces technical risk and validates the prototype system’s performance, as Australia weighs cost-effective medium-range GBAD options.

Lockheed Martin added that this hybrid solution represents a “robust air defense capability option paving the way for continued integration efforts.”

The significance of this demonstration extends beyond Australia, as Lockheed Martin said “it demonstrates the potential for enhanced air defense capabilities that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of countries and regions.”

The system is called the Arctic Over-The-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR), and the deal is worth some US$1.75 billion to Australia.

Gordon Frazer – Founder and CEO of the Australia-based HF radar technical services company FrazerLab – told Defense News Canada’s decision would fill an urgent need.

“I used to say to people, you could fly a jumbo jet from Beijing to Canberra if it had its transponders off and no one would know,” he said, arguing the same is likely true for Canada.

“Russia could fly a Tu-95 from one of their bases, Engels Air Base or something like that, to Canada and possibly no one would know.”

He added, “That’s why NORAD is so concerned, and why they’ve been pushing so hard to get this sort of technology done.”

Frazer was formerly an engineer involved in Australia’s OTHR program known as the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN).

Expanded surveillance coverage

While NORAD maintains the North Warning System, a line of microwave radars in Canada’s frozen north, Frazer said it would be “almost a trivial problem to defeat it” by flying at low altitude between these known and stationary radar sites.

Instead, because OTHR bounces high-frequency signals off the ionosphere, it can look down on airborne targets — and sometimes even surface vessels — with ease, including aircraft and missiles.

An over-the-horizon radar results in radar coverage stretching far beyond what traditional line-of-sight radars can achieve due to the curvature of the Earth.

With its particular A-OTHR contract, BAE Systems Australia will transfer technology and expertise for Canada to build its own OTHR radar sites to monitor its periphery. Officially, Canberra says JORN can detect targets 3,000 kilometers (1,700 miles) away, but its capability almost certainly reaches far beyond that.

Ottawa stated in a press release: “The signing formalizes Canada’s partnership with Australia and enables the delivery of Australia’s proven OTHR technology in support of Canada’s A-OTHR program. It marks a major milestone in the program, transitioning A-OTHR from the planning phase into delivery phase.”

Natural challenges

Canada has already been researching the application of OTHRs in its north, where environmental and solar conditions are far different than they are in Australia.

Furthermore, significant differences exist between operating OTHRs in equatorial, mid-latitude, high-latitude and polar areas. Frazer pointed out that Canada, despite the “Arctic” in the A-OTHR nomenclature, is actually buying a high-latitude system.

Polar regions present even more complicated challenges for OTHRs due to the Earth’s magnetic field, which creates serious background clutter. In fact, some 40% of Canadian territory lies above the Arctic Circle.

Although it may sound counterintuitive, Frazer said Canada’s A-OTHR radar facilities would be built as far south as possible. This is in order to bounce radar signals off the ionosphere ahead of the zone where the worst distortion occurs.

However, Canada will also have the future opportunity to expand its OTHR network with trans-polar coverage, which would allow it to see deep into Russia.

Positioned thus, the technology could enable NORAD to see Russian strategic bombers taking off or ballistic missiles being launched, for example.

If Canada does seek transpolar radar coverage, it would likely want to place those radar installations as far north as possible, Frazer explained.

Australia has three JORN radar sites, but it is unclear how many sites Canada will establish. In North America, Frazer expects the Pacific west coast will be covered by an American system, the Atlantic east coast will be covered by Canada, and then an additional system can cover the north. If NORAD wants 360-degree coverage, Frazer suggested five or six radar installations would be needed.

Australian expertise

Craig Lockhart, CEO of BAE Systems Australia, said: “Canada’s acquisition of a cutting-edge Australian OTHR system supports the strategic interests of both nations through enhanced detection and tracking of threats to North America, strengthening Five Eyes situational awareness.”

Frazer said Australia developed world-leading OTHR talent “because of multi-generational consistency” in its investment in the technology.

The New Zealand-born engineer pointed out that around 15% of the cost of OTHR technology sits in equipment to inform human operators how to set the radar’s parameters to account for constantly changing atmospheric conditions.

Frazer highlighted that OTHRs are bespoke, national systems built only once per generation. However, he hopes the Canadian deal will benefit both countries.

“I think you’re starting to get the critical mass of being able to keep the technology pipeline from design to sustainment to upgrade to far-reaching tech.”

Because over-the-horizon radar coverage can vary drastically due to solar conditions, other methods help plug surveillance gaps.

Airborne early-warning aircraft, for example, are complementary to OTHR. In May, Canada selected Saab’s GlobalEye as its future airborne early-warning platform.

Canada expects its A-OTHR to reach an initial operational capability by December 2029.

Yet this modernization push has major knock-on effects in terms of logistics support.

Brigadier Ben McLennan, the brigade’s commander, told Defense News, “The Australian Army is undergoing its most significant recapitalization, at least since World War Two, and I’d say it’s happening at record pace.”

Yet he noted most of his bandwidth is invested on how to sustain this armored brigade that has “the potential to be the most lethal formation of its type on the planet.”

McLennan quoted figures to underscore the criticality of logistics. “This brigade’s heavy armored vehicle fleet increases 630% in three years. Also, the brigade is going from 3,200 to around 4,000 personnel in three years,” including growth in “the very, very important logistics echelon.”

As another example of the growing sustainment burden, McLennan said his former multirole combat brigade is moving from an average of 40,000 liters (roughly 10,000 gallons) of diesel per day in high-intensity operations to a daily fuel requirement of over 300,000 liters (79,000 gallons).

Bulking up on armor

An important reason for such a thirst for fuel stems from heavier armored vehicles. For example, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment has already received its full complement of new M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams main battle tanks.

Furthermore, two armored engineering squadrons will have received all their Abrams-based combat engineering vehicles – the M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle and M1074 Joint Assault Bridge – by the end of 2026.

The first Hanwha AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer (SPH) has arrived in Townsville, and due next year are Hanwha AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles. Then, Rheinmetall’s Boxer 8×8 combat reconnaissance vehicle will start replacing the long-serving ASLAV in 2028.

McLennan added, “Our stock of M88A2 recovery vehicles has tripled over the two years that I’ve been here, and our armored logistics battalion increases by a subunit at the end of this year.”

It is not just heavy armor that is snowballing either, for the brigade is adopting greater numbers of aerial drones for logistics, surveillance and attack. The commander revealed that unmanned ground vehicles will arrive soon too, including variants that can enter minefields dragging a tube full of explosives to clear paths.

All these new weapon systems require rearming too. McLennan spoke of the need for resilient logistics units “to move the heavy natures of ammunition and the increasing types of ammunition: 30mm, Spike LR, different types of 155mm, a whole lot more 12.7mm.”

He pointed out the brigade’s heavy-duty expansion “will take us from about 30 pallets of ammunition a day to 105 when we factoring us conducting high-intensity combat as a brigade with all our equipment. So it’s a significant transformation.”

Artillery advances

The brigade’s 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery is trading in its M777A2 towed howitzers for the AS9 Huntsman. The first 155mm SPH reached 106 Battery in late May, and the unit will eventually have a full allotment of six AS9s plus three AS10 armored ammunition resupply vehicles.

The regiment’s two other batteries will be identically equipped by the end of 2027. Significantly, the 4th Regiment is moving from four M777A2s per battery to six AS9s, with McLennan claiming the new structure and platforms “increase our capability, our firepower, our mobility, our protection by at least 300%.”

Maj. Fergus Robinson, commander of 106 Battery, highlighted: “One of the biggest challenges for soldiers will be vehicle husbandry – this is your vehicle, this is your home and you’re responsible for it. Their ability to maintain the vehicle, as well as the weapon system, is extremely important.”

Given the hulking size of the 48-ton AS9s and their supporting AS10s, the 4th Regiment will receive M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicles for the first time. “That will be something where we need to practice and develop our own skills to get it to a mature point, where we’re confident we can do this under night, under fire, under contact,” Maj. Robinson admitted.

Base infrastructure

All this expansion in capability requires new infrastructure, with McLennan discussing a transformation at the brigade’s home turf of Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.

“We’ll have opened by the end of the year probably the best common user facility, certainly in the Southern Hemisphere and perhaps the most modern in the world, that services all these fleets with light- and medium-grade repair.” That infrastructure work continues over the next couple of years as new equipment pours in.

As an example, the artillery regiment opened a new maintenance hangar in May. This features a 10-tonne gantry crane that permits vehicle power pack changes.

McLennan added: “Concurrently, additional range facilities are being built up at the Townsville Field Training Area to enable the armored brigade to achieve its mission-essential task lists in training year on, year on.”

Greater lethality

While some army units around the world are seeking to become lighter and more mobile, the opposite is true of Australia’s 3rd Brigade.

As McLennan explained to Defense News: “The fact is that the combined-arms fighting system – not just tanks, but armored engineering vehicles, self-propelled artillery – are just as relevant, if not more relevant, than ever. They’re adapting to the threat and also the technologies that can help them reach a level of potential that we previously couldn’t.”

He said “we’re very, very focused” on this transformation, and “we’re drawing lessons from others who are doing it for real routinely.”

As well as transforming the 3rd Brigade, the Australian Army is simultaneously raising a Littoral Maneuver Group, maturing its 10th Brigade equipped with HIMARS and NASAM, and inducting the AH-64E Apache helicopter.

Speaking to Defense News from the Philippines, Bartholomees confirmed that, as an original Transformation in Contact division, four of his five brigades have changed significantly already. Following his mobile infantry, artillery and sustainment brigades, he revealed the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) is “next on the docket to do some transformation.”

“The Gray Eagle company that was in Alaska is going to move to Hawaii – and what we see over time is, as the Army determines what type of larger-class unmanned aerial systems it uses, that those will land in the CAB.”

The general said longer-range drones “are essential to support the ranges that we can now shoot out to, particularly with HIMARS.”

In fact, 25th ID was the first U.S. infantry division to receive HIMARS, a weapon that greatly extends the formation’s reach compared to incumbent M777 and M119 towed howitzers. Because of HIMARS, Bartholomees pointed out his “division artillery is really what transformed the most.”

He highlighted how the “Tropic Lightning” Division performed a number of HIMARS infiltrations to Luzon Strait islands during recent Philippine wargames. Indeed, Exercises Balikatan and Salaknib allowed 25th ID to test new tactics and technologies from April to June.

The Ranger-qualified general added that the Army wants maximum flexibility in “new technologies, drones, counter-drones, electronic warfare, software-enabled technologies, and less [reliance] on a program of record that, by the time you receive it, is obsolete and you’re stuck with it for too long.”

For example, Bartholomees praised the Infantry Squad Vehicle that makes his soldiers “more lethal, light and mobile.” By increasing the mobility of his two infantry brigades, it helped shed a lot of needless vehicles. “Infantry brigades had too much stuff, too many vehicles, they were too unwieldy,” he said.

Balikatan and Salaknib were valuable to 25th ID because “you don’t really know if [equipment] is going to work until you operate with it in these environments,” Bartholomees explained.

He also highlighted the democratization of electronic-warfare capabilities across units, in addition to the transformation of communication systems. “We’re one of two divisions in the U.S. Army that’s conducting what’s called Next-Generation Command and Control,” he explained. This entails moving to smaller form factors and software-enabled systems.

Pushing new capabilities into frontline units is vital for 25th ID, especially when so far from home in places like the Philippines. “Shipping capability costs really drive forward the need for us to innovate,” he said.

One response has been the Forge, an expeditionary capability that allows soldiers to manufacture spare parts using 3D printing, for example. Bartholomees said the Forge is important “because it’s helping to thicken our sustainment lines by creating capability, creating parts and manufacturing forward where we can”.

He said 25th ID’s fielding of new technologies will continue unabated: “We’re literally transforming all the time,” although “we do have to manage how we do this, and we have to be disciplined in this approach.”

The deal with Rheinmetall Nioa Munitions (RNM) was announced on June 8. It will see the joint venture forging 155mm shells for the Australian Army and others at its Maryborough facility in Queensland.

Notably, this is the first time M795 shells will be forged outside North America. The ammunition is in heavy demand, as Ukraine chews through 5,500-6,000 rounds every day.

The M795 rounds are fired by Australia’s M777A2 towed howitzers and the AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzer now entering service.

The U.S. military and other partner nations use the ammunition, too, so exports are part of the business equation.

This RNM deal reverses a 2024 move asking Thales Australia to establish a 155mm forging capability at a government-owned site at Benalla.

That decision was unusual because RNM’s Maryborough facility had already been forging 155mm shells since June 2022. Its DM-family casings are sold to Germany, where they are filled and fused for onward delivery to Ukraine.

Allocating the M795 contract to an existing facility rather than creating a parallel production line from scratch appears more sensible, analysts said. Canberra eventually recognized this, for in June 2025 it canceled the M795 award to Thales.

All is not lost for Thales Australia, though, as the government is investing A$9.2 million to modernize and refurbish an existing 5-inch naval projectile production line at Benalla, Australia.

The Maryborough factory will commence M795 production by late 2028 at a rate of 15,000 rounds annually. It will also have an annual surge production capacity of 100,000 rounds.

“Domestic forging ensures Australia has control of the supply chain and will always have access to forged projectiles, reducing lead times and better equipping the Australian Defence Force in times of conflict,” the Department of Defence said in a statement.

Australia also needs to close another sovereignty gap. It currently cannot load, assemble and pack explosives into 155mm projectiles, nor add fuses.

Nioa describes its munitions facility as “the most advanced of its kind” in the world.

“The RNM facility at Maryborough has successfully ramped up to three shifts per day, which is a significant milestone in production capacity expansion,” Mick Ahern, Nioa Australia & New Zealand’s General Manager for Weapons & Munitions, told Defense News. “This equates to a capacity of 3,500 projectile bodies per month.”

Seoul plans to launch its first boat in the mid-2030s, and commission it in “the late 2030s,” the government proclaimed last week.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced what it has dubbed the “Basic Plan for the Development of South Korean Nuclear-Propelled Submarines” on May 26.

This effort is being labeled as the Jang Bogo-N project, named after South Korea’s first ever submarine; built in Germany, it was commissioned in 1992. The “N” refers to “next generation,” “nuclear” and “neo technology.”

The Republic of Korea Navy previously declared a need for four SSNs. The submarines are likely to displace some 8,000 tons, which makes them similar in size to the American Virginia class.

Why is South Korea going nuclear?

Kim Jae Yeop, senior researcher at the Sungkyun Institute for Global Strategy in Seoul, listed four reasons why Seoul wants to adopt SSNs. The first has to do with fielding a counterweight military capability, as it must “counter Pyongyang’s submarine-launched ballistic missile threats, and possess a highly survivable deterrent against neighboring powers like China.”

North Korea unveiled its new nuclear-powered, missile-armed submarine in December 2025. Pyongyang’s first move in this direction gave South Korea a political and moral green light to follow suit.

Secondly, Kim said, Seoul wishes to deepen and enhance cooperation with the United States, just as Australia is doing under the AUKUS program.

A new national nuclear-submarine push “will enable Seoul to broaden the geographical range of combined military activities with the U.S beyond the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

A third factor is boosting the politico-military status of Korea in the international community. Finally, Kim pointed out, SSNs “present a valid alternative to nuclear armaments, which have been strongly demanded in Korea for the past several years in response to growing threats of nuclear weapons by the Pyongyang regime.”

According to the Defense Ministry announcement, “Nuclear-powered submarines possess dramatically enhanced operational capabilities compared to existing diesel submarines,” especially their submerged endurance and mobility.

Indigenous development

The ministry said development of SSNs “is a national industrial development project spanning over 40 years (ten years of construction plus over 30 years of operation) that connects shipbuilding, nuclear power and defense industries.”

The emphasis is on domestic construction, with a prediction of 40,000+ jobs being created. This is in contrast to President Donald Trump’s declaration last October that Seoul should construct them at Philadelphia Shipyards in the United States. Hanwha Ocean acquired that shipyard in late 2024, but the site is not equipped to build nuclear-powered vessels.

Importantly, Korean submarines will use low-enriched uranium and long-cycle reactors, rather than the highly enriched fuel the U.S. Navy utilizes. This choice of fuel will minimize Korean submarine refueling requirements.

“As one of the leading powerhouses in nuclear energy and shipbuilding industry in the world, Korea is widely believed to have sufficient capacity for developing and building its own nuclear-powered submarine,” said Kim.

This includes developing a small modular reactor. Nonetheless, the main challenge will be nuclear fuel supply and complying with international nonproliferation regulations, Kim indicated.

Seoul will work with the United States to secure and manage its uranium, and the two allies are expected to launch a working group in early June.

Kim pointed out that his country has produced more than 20 conventional submarines to date. The latest 4,000-ton vessel arrived in Canada on May 23 after completing a first-ever trans-Pacific voyage.

Design concept

The same day the Jang Bogo-N project was announced, shares in local shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries rose 10.2% and 9.6%, respectively.

Hanwha Ocean displayed an SSN concept at Busan’s MADEX exhibition in May 2025. That radical submarine design featured technological leaps such as a rim-driven propulsor, X-form rudder, electro-optical mast with 360º view, AI-based combat management system, a diver lockout, and manned-unmanned teaming.

Not all these features will end up on the Jang Bogo-N, but it does indicate Korea’s shipbuilding ambitions. A vertical-launch missile section will definitely be part of the design, however.

Because it will take at least a decade for Korea to develop the new submarine type, Kim said the navy “will need to keep up efforts to improve current conventional submarine forces in countering underwater challenges from Pyongyang or other regional powers.”

The Defense Ministry described the Jang Bogo-N as a “historic milestone that opens a new horizon for the Republic of Korea’s maritime security.”

The government vowed not to pursue nuclear weapons, but Kim noted the acquisition of SSNs “will contribute to efforts of the U.S and its allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific region to maintain a strategic balance against the challenge of revisionist powers like China.”

However, one side effect, according to Kim, is that “it’s highly probable Japan may also pursue development of nuclear-powered submarines in response to Korea’s choice. In this case, Seoul will have to closely coordinate with Tokyo on the matter, so that such moves shall not endanger security cooperation between the two countries.”

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said last November that Tokyo would consider acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

The boat Farncomb, the submarine with the greatest mileage, is the first vessel to undergo the process at the government-owned ASC shipyard near Adelaide. Work starts in late May.

Replacement of the Collins fleet – introduced from 1996-2003 – had been formally proposed as long ago as 2009. However, successive governments dithered as they first considered French-designed boats — spectacularly dumped in 2021 — and then AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines.

Now budgeted at A$11 billion (nearly US$8 billion), the extension program became ever more critical as a bridging capability before Australia’s navy anticipates its first American Virginia-class submarines in the early 2030s and SSN-AUKUS boats in the 2040s.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) issued a damning verdict on Department of Defence planning for the life-extension program. It noted that “substantial further expenditure has been incurred, delays have accumulated and capability risks have remained.”

Auditors concluded that Defence is not in a good position “to demonstrate that the project will achieve its intended capability outcomes or represent value for money.”

Defense officials claimed in a press release that the extension program “will reduce risk, enhance capability and maximize availability.” The statement proposed a “conditions-based sustainment approach” that restores base components and upgrades critical weapons and systems.

Work on Farncomb will start with a detailed engineering assessment, and subsequent work will depend on what is discovered.

This first effort, which may uncover hidden issues such as corrosion, will inform work to be performed on the remaining submarines. Priority will be given to the youngest boats.

Auditors determined that accumulated delays and a decade of planning forced a revised delivery strategy. Instead of redesigning and replacing key systems like engines and generators, the program will simply refurbish and maintain them, without substantially improving their combat capability.

As some issue experts expect delays in Australia fielding nuclear-powered submarines, and the future possibility of having few or no operational submarines whatsoever, Canberra insists there is no plan B for interim conventional submarines.

Meanwhile, new submarines may be cheaper than Australia’s proposed life-extension refit. For example, Japan will pay US$760 million for its newest Taigei-class submarine.

Asked about Australia’s submarine aspirations, Rear Adm. Stephen Hughes, Head of Navy Capability, told Defense News last November: “Are they high risk? Sure – schedule is demanding, technologies are demanding, workforce is demanding. I could list all the things that could go wrong, but one thing we’re really good at in Defence – despite maybe some other commentators’ views – is risk management.”

Still, ANAO auditors stated: “Ten years after the initial decision to establish the life-of-type-extension project, Defence was not well placed to demonstrate that the project will achieve its objective to maintain Collins-class capability and availability to 2048.”

Held from Apr. 20 to May 8, Balikatan was a good testing ground for the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, or 3rd MLR.

This agile Hawaii-based unit possesses more than 2,000 personnel. Designed to operate at the tip of the Marine Corps, the MLR was created in March 2022.

1st Lt. Duncan Stoner, the unit’s director for communication strategy and, said his formation “is unlike any traditional infantry regiment in the Marine Corps. The key difference lies in our focus and our toolkit.”

To permit it to operate in dispersed locations, 3rd MLR’s headquarters oversees three subordinate elements.

The first is the 3rd Littoral Combat Team that fires Naval Strike Missiles from NMESIS (standing for Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System) missile launchers. These assets are accompanied by infantry companies for security, and this year they received attack drones for the first time.

Next up is the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion that handles air domain awareness and air defense utilizing TPS-80 radars and counter-drone systems.

Finally, the regiment possesses the 3rd Littoral Logistics Battalion to sustain operations in distributed, littoral environments.

This year’s exercise was the fourth time the regiment has participated in Balikatan, and Stoner told Defense News: “As the regiment continues to evolve, this exercise is where we validate our tactics alongside our highly capable regional allies and partners.”

Securing maritime straits

One of those tactics was maritime key terrain security operations, where the Marine Corps helped seize remote Philippine islands in the Luzon Strait. This included deployment of NMESIS sections with anti-ship missiles.

Yes, 3rd MLR deployed the NMESIS to the Batanes Islands in last year’s Balikatan, but this year that expanded dramatically to three separate islands. They inserted with the aid of Air Force C-130Js and Army LCU-2000 landing craft.

On May 2, Defense News visited one of those locations in Basco in the Batane Islands, which is closer to Taiwan than it is to the Philippine mainland.

A section comprising a single NMESIS launcher, command vehicle and leader vehicle – all based on the JLTV chassis – deployed to Basco for 72 hours and conducted simulated fire missions against warships attempting to pass through the Luzon Strait.

Staff Sergeant Darren Gibbs, a section chief in the MLR’s Medium-Range Missile Battery, described NMESIS “as an autonomous missile system that’s essentially used for protection of our straits and sea lines.”

He said “training in Batanes allows us a different environment than what we normally operate in, so it gives us unique opportunities to actually utilize the system.”

However, the NMESIS is yet to fire an actual missile in the Philippines.

Stoner explained that Balikatan is “a phenomenal opportunity to strengthen our partnerships, get reps in employing systems like NMESIS, MADIS and our sensing systems, and really exercise our ability to execute distributed command and control.”

Threats from the air

MADIS is short for Marine Air Defense Integrated System. Fielded by the Marine Corps last year, it comprises JLTVs fitted with various soft-kill and hard-kill counter-drone systems.

At an integrated air defense demonstration in Zambales on Apr. 28, Defense News saw a battery of MADIS vehicles take down various kinds of quad-copters and fixed-wing drones.

In that engagement, countermeasure seemed to miss more drone targets than it hit. However, Defense News learned that crews were deliberately practicing tracking the drones and perfecting tactics, techniques and procedures, rather than simply trying to blow them up.

Staff Sergeant Noah Konien, a platoon sergeant in the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion, praised his crews: “They did an excellent job, focused on what they had to do and did the job very well.”

Being based on Oahu, MADIS crews face limitations when live-firing at home, so Konien was enthusiastic about the opportunity to fire rounds and missiles in the Philippines.

Regionally relevant

There are two MLRs in the Asia-Pacific region, the other being the 12th MLR stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

Stoner explained, “We’re a purpose-built, informed formation designed to operate and persist in contested littoral environments in tandem with regional forces. In real-world terms, our function is to enable and deliver multi-domain effects that expand the decision space for the broader combined and joint force in the region.”

Asked what direction MLRs will go next, Stoner responded that the Marine Corp is constantly evolving. “The MLR is truly an example of modernization in action.”

He added, “Regardless of specific systems, we’re continually experimenting with advanced sensing capabilities, exploring more survivable command-and-control tactics, and pushing the envelope on multi-domain operations to ensure we remain effective and ready in any situation with our allies and partners in the region.”