Tag: military industrial complex

Japan Continues Drifting From Post-WW2 Pacifist Constitution, Inking Landmark Navy Deal With Australia

Japan continues getting further away from its pacifist constitution adopted after World War 2, as US regional allies continue strengthen defense alliances in face of the ‘China threat’.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles announced Tuesday a major deal with his country’s Indo-Pacific trade partner Japan, hailed as “the largest defense industry deal ever made between Japan and Australia.”

Australia plans acquire a total of eleven frigates from Japan in a major boost to its navy, valued at 10 billion Australian dollars (approximately $6.5 billion or €5.6 billion).

The major contract was awarded to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which will provide Mogami-class warships, which are highly advanced and with an array of weapons, with the bid succeeding over that of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

“This decision was made based on what was the best capability for Australia,” Marles said. “We do have a very close strategic alignment with Japan.”

“The Mogami-class frigate is the best frigate for Australia,” Marles described. “It is a next-generation vessel. It is stealthy. It has 32 vertical launch cells capable of launching long-range missiles.”

This agreement marks Japan’s first export of warships since before the Second World War, and only its second significant defense sale abroad, which is why some Australian analysts consider the landmark deal to be high risk.

Many details of the deal still remain shrouded in mystery, but one maritime sources says: “Under the agreement, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will supply the Royal Australian Navy with three upgraded Mogami-class multi-role frigates built in Japan from 2029. Eight more frigates will be built in Western Australia.”

Additionally, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has never built warships outside of Japan. Rabobank in a note has commented further of this factor as follows:

Japan continues to increase its defense exports after decades of controls to stay out of global conflicts after World War II. Mitsubishi is going to build a fleet of frigates for the Royal Australian Navy in the coming years. The first three will be built in Japan, the remainder in Australia, bolstering the defense ties between the two countries. Both are US allies and face a threat from China. Australia aims to increase its surface fleet to its largest size since WWII.

It was only just over a decade ago, in 2014, that then-prime minister Shinzo Abe partially lifted the post-WW decades-long self-imposed ban on foreign arms sales.

The high tech multi-mission stealth frigate for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, now to be supplied to Australia’s military…

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Ukraine’s Anti-Graft Agencies Say They Uncovered Major Drone Procurement Bribery Case

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies said on Aug. 2 they had uncovered a large-scale bribery scheme involving the procurement of military drones and electronic warfare equipment.

This came just days after the agencies’ independence was restored following mass protests over government efforts to curb their powers.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said in a statement on Saturday that the alleged plot involved a sitting lawmaker, current and former regional officials, National Guard personnel, and a company executive.

Investigators alleged that those involved had refined a scheme over the past two years to systematically siphon off budget funds allocated by local authorities for defense needs, and to secure “unfair benefits in particularly large quantities.”

Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, identified the accused lawmaker as Oleksii Kuznetsov of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Party leader Davyd Arakhamiia later said on Telegram that Kuznetsov’s membership in the parliamentary faction would be suspended while the investigation is underway, and that a disciplinary panel was weighing his expulsion.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Ukrainian parliament’s press office with a request to forward a comment request to Kuznetsov.

In a separate statement, the party said it supported the work of NABU and SAPO, and stressed that responsibility for corrupt acts “must be borne by everyone, regardless of position, status or political affiliation.”

It said the recently passed law restoring the agencies’ independence “created additional guarantees for their work,” for them to act decisively and professionally in combating corruption.

Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on X on Saturday that he had been briefed on the investigation by the heads of NABU and SAPO, confirming that a lawmaker, local officials, and several National Guard servicemembers had been “exposed for bribery.”

“I am grateful to the anti-corruption agencies for their work,” he wrote. “There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork in uncovering it, and ultimately, a fair sentence. It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law passed on Thursday guarantees them all the tools necessary for a real fight against corruption.”

The law he referred to marked a dramatic about-face for his administration.

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Palantir Secures Historic $10 Billion Army Contract for AI-Driven Defense

The U.S. Army has awarded Palantir Technologies a monumental $10 billion contract, consolidating dozens of existing agreements into a single enterprise deal over the next decade.

This landmark agreement, announced on July 31, 2025, positions Palantir as a cornerstone of the Army’s data and software infrastructure. It underscores a strategic shift toward leveraging commercial AI to enhance military readiness and efficiency.

The contract streamlines 75 separate agreements, offering volume-based discounts and eliminating redundant procurement costs.

This approach maximizes buying power while delivering cutting-edge data integration and AI tools to soldiers faster. The deal reflects a broader Pentagon push to modernize warfare capabilities amid rising global tensions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific.

Palantir’s role builds on its success with the Maven Smart System, which received a $795 million boost earlier this year to expand AI-driven targeting across U.S. forces.

The system fuses intelligence from drones, satellites, and sensors to identify threats in near real-time, maintaining human oversight for critical decisions.

This capability has proven vital in conflicts like Ukraine, where rapid data analysis drives battlefield outcomes.

Founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp, Palantir has deepened its federal footprint, securing $373 million in U.S. government revenue in Q1 2025 alone, a 45% increase year-over-year.

The Trump administration’s emphasis on cost efficiency and commercial partnerships has propelled Palantir’s rise, with new contracts spanning the Navy, ICE, and CDC.

Critics, however, warn that such dominance by a single vendor could stifle competition and innovation.

The Army’s enterprise agreement not only enhances operational efficiency but also aligns with President Trump’s vision of a leaner, tech-driven military.

By consolidating contracts, the Army projects significant savings, freeing resources for mission-critical programs.

Palantir’s software, like the Foundry platform, enables seamless data integration, empowering soldiers with actionable intelligence.

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Exposing China’s Military & Media Push In Africa

At a July 2025 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson warned that Africa is becoming a key battleground in global competition, with China, Russia, and terrorist groups posing increasing threats to U.S. national security.

Nominated to lead U.S. Africa Command, Anderson emphasized China’s shift from purely economic engagement to a growing military presence and aggressive information operations across the continent. He expressed particular concern over Chinese investments in African ports, especially along the Atlantic coast, which could be used to restrict U.S. access in times of conflict.

Chinese state-backed companies now have ownership stakes in roughly one-third of Africa’s 231 ports, with 78 facilities across 32 countries and a heavy concentration in West Africa, 35 compared to 17 in East Africa. Many of these ports have already been used by People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships conducting military exercises. This expanding control includes major ports in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Namibia.

A strong Chinese presence in West African ports would significantly enhance the PLAN’s access to the Atlantic, bringing it inside the U.S. security perimeter, an area far more difficult to defend than the Pacific due to fewer islands and resupply points. Africa lies just 3,000 miles from the U.S. East Coast, roughly the same distance as New York to California, meaning a Chinese resupply base on the Atlantic coast could put submarines within striking range of New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

While Chinese nuclear submarines can stay at sea for extended periods, they currently lack the ability to resupply or take on provisions in the Atlantic. Establishing a base would solve that, enabling not only sustained deployments but also pre-positioning for intelligence collection, containerized missile rearming, and disruption of U.S. or allied operations.

Since 2000, PLAN vessels have made 55 port calls across Africa, including in West African nations such as Morocco and Mauritania, demonstrating China’s intent to expand its military use of these facilities. A Chinese foothold on the African coast would give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a powerful platform to influence global trade and project power across both sides of the Atlantic.

Beijing has already demonstrated its willingness to convert commercial ports into military infrastructure, as evidenced by its 2018 project in Djibouti, where the state-owned China Merchants Group constructed a PLAN-exclusive base adjacent to a commercial port. Seven additional African ports, spanning both the Atlantic and the West Indian Ocean, have been identified as likely candidates for future Chinese military use.

In addition to base building, China is rapidly expanding its military-to-military cooperation in Africa. In 2000, less than 5 percent of African weapons came from China. Today, Chinese-made armored vehicles are used by 70 percent of African militaries, making China the continent’s top arms supplier. Officer training has followed a similar trend: from under 200 African officers trained in China at the turn of the century to more than 2,000 today.

Since 2006, China has conducted 20 joint military drills with African forces, steadily increasing in scale and sophistication, most notably the August 2024 land and sea exercises with Tanzania and Mozambique, and recent joint air force drills with Egypt. The following month, Beijing pledged a 1 billion yuan military grant to support African armed forces, train 6,000 personnel, and host 500 young officers for joint training, patrols, and exercises.

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The military’s squad of satellite trackers is now routinely going on alert

If it seems like there’s a satellite launch almost every day, the numbers will back you up.

The US Space Force’s Mission Delta 2 is a unit that reports to Space Operations Command, with the job of sorting out the nearly 50,000 trackable objects humans have launched into orbit.

Dozens of satellites are being launched each week, primarily by SpaceX to continue deploying the Starlink broadband network. The US military has advance notice of these launches—most of them originate from Space Force property—and knows exactly where they’re going and what they’re doing.

That’s usually not the case when China or Russia (and occasionally Iran or North Korea) launches something into orbit. With rare exceptions, like human spaceflight missions, Chinese and Russian officials don’t publish any specifics about what their rockets are carrying or what altitude they’re going to.

That creates a problem for military operators tasked with monitoring traffic in orbit and breeds anxiety among US forces responsible for making sure potential adversaries don’t gain an edge in space. Will this launch deploy something that can destroy or disable a US satellite? Will this new satellite have a new capability to surveil allied forces on the ground or at sea?

Of course, this is precisely the point of keeping launch details under wraps. The US government doesn’t publish orbital data on its most sensitive satellites, such as spy craft collecting intelligence on foreign governments.

But you can’t hide in low-Earth orbit, a region extending hundreds of miles into space. Col. Raj Agrawal, who commanded Mission Delta 2 until earlier this month, knows this all too well. Agrawal handed over command to Col. Barry Croker as planned after a two-year tour of duty at Mission Delta 2.

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Military General Surgeons Are Not Adequately Prepared for Saving the Lives of Wounded Service Members in Large-Scale Combat Operations

The United States military may be ill-prepared to treat those wounded in a large-scale combat operation. As it stands, the Military Health System (MHS) would find itself caught off guard with limited manpower and proficiency to save lives.

On March 11, 2025, the Senate Committee on Armed Services (SASC) held a hearing “to receive testimony on stabilizing the Military Health System to prepare for large-scale combat operations.” Three retired Air Force senior officers, to include Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Douglas Robb, Maj. Gen. (Dr.)  Paul Friedrichs, and Col. (Dr.) Jeremy Cannon, provided witness testimony.

The Gateway Pundit spoke to retired Air Force Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Paul Carlton. The former Surgeon General of the Air Force and board advisor for Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS) said he is gravely concerned that “military surgeons are not ready to go to war as a result of the criteria the Military Health System (MHS) has established and tried to abide by for the last 20 years.”

Carlton pointed to what he considers one of the most concerning statements of the one-and-a-half-hour committee hearing where Col. (Dr.) Cannon, Professor of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, stated “only 10 percent of military general surgeons get the patient volume, acuity, and variety they need to remain combat ready.”

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Senate Rejects Bids To Block Arms Sales To Israel

The Senate voted on July 30 to reject two resolutions that would have blocked arms sales to Israel in response to concerns over civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip since Israeli forces began military action against the Hamas terror group.

Senators rejected two motions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have stopped the export of over 5,000 bombs and guidance kits and 20,000 firearms. The resolutions failed by 73–24 and 70–27, respectively, in the 100-member chamber.

Sanders, who aligns with the Democrats, said on the evening of July 30 before the vote: “American taxpayer dollars are being used to starve children, bomb schools, kill civilians, and support the cruelty of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his criminal ministers. That, Mr. President, is why I have brought these two resolutions of disapproval to block offensive arms sales to Israel.”

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who voted against both motions, called the resolutions misguided, and said before the vote that if they were adopted, it would “reinstate the failed policies of the Biden administration, and would abandon America’s closest ally in the Middle East.”

Risch said that the situation in the Gaza Strip and the impact on its residents was the fault of Hamas, who he said “use the people of Gaza as human shields.”

“These are not good people, and it is in the interest of America and the world to see this terrorist group destroyed,” he said.

Israel began its military operations against Hamas after the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, when Hamas militants killed about 1,200 civilians in Israel and kidnapped 251. According to the Israeli government website, 49 of those who were abducted that day are still being held in captivity. One additional hostage is still being held in Gaza, who has been held since 2014.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health reported that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in these casualty figures, and The Epoch Times cannot verify their accuracy.

Throughout the conflict, Israel has said that it tries to avoid harming the civilian population and only targets Hamas terrorists.

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Lockheed Martin Ready to Ship Typhon Missiles to Germany To Strike Moscow

The American defense contractor Lockheed Martin has pledged to accelerate the production of Typhon strike complexes for Germany if the United States and Germany sign a relevant agreement. The report was published by Defense News.
According to Edward Dobek, program director for launch systems at Lockheed Martin, the company’s facility in Moorestown, New Jersey is capable of delivering Typhon launchers to Germany within a year. He added that the faster delivery would depend on the governments of both countries reaching a timely agreement.
Earlier, the American magazine Military Watch Magazine reported that Germany is seeking to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles and Typhon missile launchers from the United States, with the goal of gaining long-range strike capabilities potentially reaching as far as Moscow.

German Defense Ministry Confirms Interest in Typhon Systems

In July, following talks with his American counterpart Pete Hegseth, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that Berlin is considering the purchase of Typhon missile complexes from the United States.

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Entering a Golden Age for War Profiteers

When, in his 1961 farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the dangers of the unwarranted influence wielded by a partnership between the military and a growing cohort of U.S. weapons contractors and came up with the ominous term “military-industrial complex,” he could never have imagined quite how large and powerful that complex would become.  In fact, in recent years, one firm — Lockheed Martin — has normally gotten more Pentagon funding than the entire U.S. State Department. And mind you, that was before the Trump administration moved to sharply slash spending on diplomacy and jack up the Pentagon budget to an astonishing $1 trillion per year.

In a new study issued by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Costs of War Project at Brown University, Stephen Semler and I lay out just how powerful those arms makers and their allies have become, as Pentagon budgets simply never stop rising. And consider this: in the five years from 2020 to 2024, 54% of the Pentagon’s $4.4 trillion in discretionary spending went to private firms and $791 billion went to just five companies: Lockheed Martin ($313 billion), RTX (formerly Raytheon, $145 billion), Boeing ($115 billion), General Dynamics ($116 billion), and Northrop Grumman ($81 billion). And mind you, that was before Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Budget bill landed on planet Earth, drastically slashing spending on diplomacy and domestic programs to make room for major tax cuts and near-record Pentagon outlays.

In short, the “garrison state” Eisenhower warned of has arrived, with negative consequences for nearly everyone but the executives and shareholders of those giant weapons conglomerates and their competitors in the emerging military tech sector who are now hot on their trail. High-tech militarists like Peter Thiel of Palantir, Elon Musk of SpaceX, and Palmer Luckey of Anduril have promised a new, more affordable, more nimble, and supposedly more effective version of the military-industrial complex, as set out in Anduril’s “Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy,” an ode to the supposed value of those emerging tech firms.

Curiously enough, that Anduril essay is actually a remarkably apt critique of the Big Five contractors and their allies in Congress and the Pentagon, pointing out their unswerving penchant for cost overruns, delays in scheduling, and pork-barrel politics to preserve weapons systems that all too often no longer serve any useful military purpose. That document goes on to say that, while the Lockheed Martins of the world served a useful function in the ancient days of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, today they are incapable of building the next-generation of weaponry.  The reason: their archaic business model and their inability to master the software at the heart of a coming new generation of semi-autonomous, pilotless weapons driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing.  For their part, the new titans of tech boldly claim that they can provide exactly such a futuristic generation of weaponry far more effectively and at far less cost, and that their weapons systems will preserve or even extend American global military dominance into the distant future by outpacing China in the development of next generation technologies.

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Lockheed Has Something ‘Magical,’ Costly as Hell, and Totally Secret Up its Sleeve

Defense giant Lockheed Martin just reported a rare — and yuge — quarterly loss of $1.6 billion, but CEO James D. Taiclet sounded unfazed, thanks to a “magical” classified aeronautics program he claims will create a “game-changing capability for our joint U.S. and international customers.”

Is it a bird? A plane? Superman?

Before we get to the speculation — and there is some juicy stuff — a quick look at how the company lost so much money on something that Taiclet said Lockheed “probably won’t be able to talk about what that is for many years to come.”

Lockheed launched Program X with the Pentagon in 2018 during the Trump 45 administration on a fixed-price basis. That strikes me as a bit odd (albeit awesome for taxpayers) because exotic weapons systems that require developing bleeding-edge technologies are usually done on a cost-plus basis. That’s just because you can’t price something when half the parts haven’t even been invented yet.

So Lockheed signed on to a fixed-price contract just a couple of years before Bidenflation knocked 25% off the value of the dollar. “But I can assure you,” Taiclet said of Project X, “that it’s going to be in high demand for a very long time, well beyond the fixed price commitments.”

What might generate so much revenue, not just from the Pentagon, but from our allies around the world? I did a little poking around on Reddit and other forums where nerds like to geek out and found some fascinating possibilities.

Lockheed lost the contest to produce the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) stealth fighter — now known as the F-47 — to rival Boeing. So there’s been some speculation that Project X is a carrier-based version of Lockheed’s NGAD for the Navy. But Lockheed denies this.

There’s also the long-rumored Hypersonic Reconnaissance Aircraft to replace the long-retired SR-71 spy plane. But those are top-secret, highly specialized aircraft that would be unlikely to generate foreign sales, even if Congress decided to allow it. (Congress refused permission to sell the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter overseas to help keep its secrets.) I seriously doubt Project X is an SR-72.

Here’s where the possibilities get weirder — or should I say, “magical?”

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