USA · Air · tiltrotorPro
V-22 Osprey
The V-22 Osprey is a twin-engine military tiltrotor combining helicopter-like vertical takeoff and landing with the speed and range of a turboprop transport.
Asia-Pacific Coverage
Sea · destroyer · guided-missile-destroyerPro
Choe Hyon-class destroyer
North Korea's first approximately 5,000-tonne guided-missile destroyer class, combining a dense vertical-launch battery, phased-array radar and multi-mission armament in the Korean People's Navy's largest surface combatant.
missiles · icbm · ballistic-missilePro
Hwasong-19
North Korea's largest flight-tested road-mobile ICBM — a three-stage, solid-propellant missile intended to supplement the Hwasong-18 and potentially carry multiple reentry vehicles.
Europe · Air · sixth-generationPro
GCAP (Tempest)
GCAP, informally known as Tempest, is the UK-Italian-Japanese program developing a sixth-generation stealth fighter to replace the Typhoon and Mitsubishi F-2 from 2035.
USA · Air · airborne-electronic-attackPro
EA-18G Growler
The EA-18G Growler is a carrier-based airborne electronic-attack aircraft that detects, locates and jams hostile emitters while supporting strike aircraft with anti-radiation missiles and air-to-air weapons.
USA · Autonomy · Partner Signal
Kawasaki Puts a Chip Startup's AI Into Its Aerial Defense Work Through 2028
Kawasaki Heavy Industries signed a 2026-2028 teaming agreement worth several million dollars with EdgeCortix, giving the Japanese chip startup an aerospace prime to carry its onboard AI. No aircraft or customer was named.
China · USA · air defensePro
Chiang Kung
Taiwan's indigenous high-altitude anti-ballistic missile system, designed to provide the upper interception tier of the planned T-Dome air and missile defense network.
Russia · China · missilesPro
KN-30
North Korea's heavyweight Hwasong-11 — a solid-fuel ballistic missile more than ten metres long, claimed to carry a 2.5-tonne warhead roughly five times an Iskander's, transferred to Russia in 2026 and deployed within range of Ukraine.
China · taiwan · drones
Taiwan's NT$1.1225 Trillion Budget Leaves the Drone Order Unsettled
Taipei has cleared 3 percent of GDP, but the uncrewed mass that could decide a fight in the Strait remains trapped in a separate dispute over how money becomes orders.
China · drones · Japan
Japan's defense white paper puts cheap combat drones at the center and hands the work to startups
Tokyo's 598-page annual defense paper names drones and AI as the warfare Japan must adapt to, and routes the buildup through startups and dual-use suppliers rather than its incumbent primes.
missiles · icbm · ballistic-missilePro
Hwasong-18
The Hwasong-18 is North Korea's first solid-fuel ICBM — cold-launched, road-mobile, three-for-three in 2023 tests, with an implied 15,000 km reach covering the entire US. It compresses pre-launch warning to minutes and sparked an unresolved fight over Russian design help.
Land · mlrs · rocket-artilleryPro
KN-25
The KN-25 is North Korea's 600mm "super-large" rocket launcher — the world's biggest-caliber guided rocket artillery, a rocket/ballistic-missile hybrid reaching 380 km, nuclear-tasked and mass-produced. Despite two years of reports, no transfer to Russia has ever been confirmed.
Russia · Land · artilleryPro
M1989 Koksan
The M1989 Koksan is North Korea's 170mm self-propelled gun — the largest-caliber tube artillery in service anywhere, built to range Seoul. Since late 2024 Pyongyang has shipped 120–200 to Russia, where they now fire on Ukrainian lines and are being hunted by drones and HIMARS.
USA · Autonomy · Palantir
Japan eyes Palantir's Maven for SDF command, opening an AI-sovereignty fight
Tokyo is weighing a US firm's software for the core of how its commanders read the battlefield, a first for the Self-Defense Forces that also opens a fight over who controls Japan's military data.
China · Policy · JapanPro
China Turned Its Rare-Earth Grip Into a Weapon. Japan's Defense Industry Is the Test Case.
Beijing doubled its export-control blacklist of Japanese defense and dual-use firms to 80 entities on June 29, weaponizing the rare-earth and component supply chain the drone age runs on, with Tokyo's own unmanned-systems makers among the first cut off.
Land · mlrs · rocket-artilleryPro
Pinaka
India's rocket artillery — the Pinaka fires a salvo of twelve rockets in under a minute, saturating targets out to 40 km and, in guided versions, 75–120 km. Battle-proven since Kargil in 1999 and used again in 2025, it is now exported to Armenia.
air defense · sam · surface-to-air-missilePro
Akash
India's home-built air shield — the Akash is an indigenous medium-range surface-to-air missile that guards against jets, drones and cruise missiles out to ~25 km. It performed well in India's 2025 clash with Pakistan and won its first export, to Armenia.
missiles · ballistic-missile · cruise-missilePro
Hyunmoo
South Korea's strike arsenal — the Hyunmoo family runs from Tomahawk-like cruise missiles to the Hyunmoo-5 "monster missile," a conventional ballistic weapon with an 8-tonne bunker-buster warhead built to smash North Korea's deepest command bunkers. The non-nuclear backbone of Seoul's deterrence.
missiles · ballistic-missile · icbmPro
Agni-V
India's long-range deterrent — the Agni-V is a road-mobile, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that puts all of China within reach. In 2024 India test-fired a version carrying multiple independently-targeted warheads (MIRV), joining a small club of powers with that technology.
Air · fighter · light-fighterPro
HAL Tejas
India's home-built fighter — four decades in the making — the Tejas is a light, agile single-engine delta jet that finally gave India an indigenous combat aircraft. The Mk1A adds AESA radar and beyond-visual-range missiles; the bigger Mk2 is coming. The flagship of India's defence self-reliance.
missiles · cruise-missile · supersonicPro
BrahMos
The world's fastest cruise missile in service — India and Russia's BrahMos is a Mach-3 ramjet weapon that hits ships and land targets from sea, land, air and submarine. India used it in combat against Pakistan in 2025 and now exports it to the Philippines.
Land · ifv · infantry-fighting-vehiclePro
AS21 Redback
The IFV Australia chose over the Lynx — Hanwha's AS21 Redback is a heavily-protected tracked fighting vehicle with a 30mm cannon, Spike missiles, active protection and a helmet that lets crews "see through" the hull. A Korean design built on Australian soil, it beat Rheinmetall to win Land 400.
missiles · anti-ship · supersonicPro
Hsiung Feng III
Taiwan's "carrier killer" — the ramjet-powered Hsiung Feng III streaks toward enemy ships at around Mach 3, too fast for many defences to react. Fired from warships, coastal batteries and fighter jets, it is a core asymmetric weapon meant to make any Chinese invasion fleet pay a heavy price.
Sea · submarine · sskPro
Hai Kun Submarine
Taiwan's home-built deterrent — the Hai Kun ("Narwhal") is the island's first indigenous submarine, built with quiet foreign help to give Taipei a stealthy weapon that could threaten any Chinese invasion fleet. After decades unable to buy submarines abroad, Taiwan built its own.
missiles · anti-ship · land-attackPro
Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile
Japan's counterstrike missile — the upgraded Type 12 stretches a once-coastal anti-ship weapon to ~1,000 km, adds stealth shaping, terrain-following and evasive maneuvers, and can hit ships or land targets from ground launchers, ships and aircraft. The spearhead of Tokyo's new strike posture.
Sea · frigate · stealthPro
Mogami-class Frigate
Japan's stealth frigate — and its first big arms export — the Mogami-class packs firepower, mine warfare and unmanned systems into a low-signature hull run by a small, automated crew. In 2025 Australia picked the upgraded version over Germany's — Japan's first major overseas defence contract.
Sea · submarine · sskPro
KSS-III Submarine (Dosan Ahn Changho-class)
The conventional submarine that carries ballistic missiles — South Korea's KSS-III is a large, indigenous AIP boat with a vertical launch system for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, a strike capability almost unheard of outside nuclear-powered navies. Later boats add lithium-ion power.
Air · light-fighter · light-attackPro
FA-50 Fighting Eagle
The affordable fighter conquering the export market — KAI's FA-50 is a light, supersonic combat jet (born from the T-50 trainer) that delivers much of an F-16's mission at a fraction of the cost. Poland, the Philippines and Malaysia are buying it; Block 20 jets add AESA radar and aerial refuelling.
Land · main-battle-tank · mbtPro
K2 Black Panther
South Korea's world-class tank — and Europe's new workhorse — the K2 Black Panther pairs a 120mm L/55 gun, an autoloader, an active protection suite and hydropneumatic "kneeling" suspension in one of the most advanced MBTs in service. Poland is buying 1,000, with production moving to Polish soil.
China · Sea · amphibious-assault-shipPro
Type 075
China's 40,000-ton amphibious "light carrier" — a helicopter assault ship that lands troops, vehicles and air assault forces over the horizon, built in numbers as the maritime spearhead of any future move on Taiwan. The PLAN's amphibious apex.
Ukraine · China · drones
Ukraine's drone industry has found its next customer: Asia's fear of China
Ukrainian drone makers are pitching Japan and Taiwan their combat-proven systems, turning four years of war with Russia into an export-and-deterrence play aimed at China.
Europe · Land · mlrsPro
K239 Chunmoo
South Korea's wheeled multi-caliber multiple launch rocket system — firing guided rockets, tactical ballistic missiles, and unguided munitions from a single 8×8 chassis, now spreading across NATO's eastern flank.
USA · Air · fighterPro
KF-21 Boramae
South Korea's indigenous 4.5-generation twin-engine fighter—a semi-stealth, AESA-equipped multirole platform designed to replace legacy ROKAF jets and compete for export orders among nations that cannot obtain the F-35.
Russia · missiles · ballistic-missilePro
KN-23 Hwasong-11Ga
North Korea's solid-fuel quasi-ballistic short-range missile — an Iskander lookalike manufactured at the February 11 Plant, transferred to Russia, and combat-proven in Ukraine with evolving accuracy.
China · air defense · taiwan
China is building air-defense mass opposite Taiwan while America spends its own
Beijing fielded the HQ-16F, a Patriot-class mobile air-defense missile, opposite Taiwan in the same weeks the US burned through the interceptors it would need to defend the island. The contest is magazine depth, not exquisite platforms.
Europe · Land · artilleryPro
K9 Thunder
The K9 Thunder is South Korea's 155 mm/L52 tracked self-propelled howitzer — the most widely exported SP gun in the world and the backbone of NATO's eastern-flank tube artillery.
China · Air · fighterPro
JF-17 Thunder
The budget fighter shaking up the market — the China-Pakistan JF-17 Thunder gives developing air forces a cheap multirole jet, and the Block 3 adds an AESA radar and long-range PL-15 missiles. Pakistan's frontline fighter, widely exported and combat-used against India in 2025.