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Given that the Thai government has entered into detailed negotiations to acquire the Gripen E/F multirole fighter, it is timely to examine how this Swedish platform compares in depth with its American counterpart, the F-16 Block 70.
The governments of Thailand and Sweden, together with Swedish aerospace powerhouse Saab, have reportedly entered into advanced negotiations for the sale of JAS 39 Gripen E/F multirole fighters — a move that underscores Bangkok’s intent to expand and modernise its combat aviation fleet amid a rapidly evolving regional security landscape.
At the heart of the bustling show floor of the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar 2024 (IDEAS) in Karachi, Pakistan quietly signalled a transformative shift in its airpower doctrine.
In what may be a significant clue pointing to growing unmanned surveillance activity in Southeast Asian waters, a mysterious metallic object resembling a torpedo was discovered early this morning along the shores of Pantai Seberang Takir, Kuala Terengganu — a coastal stretch that faces directly into the increasingly militarised South China Sea.
Tensions in the Baltic theatre escalated further following a high-stakes aerial encounter in international airspace, where a French Navy ATL2 maritime patrol aircraft was “locked on” by a Russian naval fire-control radar—an act widely interpreted by Western defence analysts as a calculated provocation and a signal of Moscow’s increasingly muscular posture in the region.
In what could mark a pivotal shift in Washington’s posture towards Ankara, U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly prepared to revisit the previously suspended sale of F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets to Turkey, following a recent high-level conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a seismic shift for the global airpower landscape, the United States has awarded Boeing a US$20 billion (RM88 billion) contract to develop the F-47 — a sixth-generation stealth fighter jet designed not only to replace the iconic F-22 Raptor, but to dominate tomorrow’s battlespace, particularly in the increasingly volatile Indo-Pacific region.
In a move that underscores Malaysia’s growing strategic posture amid intensifying geopolitical rivalries in Southeast Asia, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) is set to take delivery of its first Multi-Purpose Mission Ship (MPMS) in 2027 — a state-of-the-art maritime asset purpose-built to enhance surveillance and enforcement operations in the highly contested South China Sea.
In a significant move reinforcing strategic defence ties in the Middle East, the United States has greenlit the sale of its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) to Saudi Arabia, a long-standing security partner in the Gulf region.
As the war in Ukraine enters yet another grinding year of attritional warfare, the Russian Ministry of Defence has begun fielding a significant enhancement to its ageing, yet battle-hardened T-72 tank fleet — the integration of the Arena-M active protection system (APS).