Maritime Security

Open-source intelligence links: Soldiers on Instagram, Russian submarines, Chinese drones, Syria and more
Thanks to advances in digital technologies, open-source intelligence (OSINT) is playing an increasingly important role in the mix of intelligence collected by state and non-state…
Nuclear-armed submarines in Indo-Pacific Asia: Stabiliser or menace?
Reports
Nuclear-armed submarines in Indo-Pacific Asia: Stabiliser or menace?
In this Report, Lowy Institute Research Associate Brendan Thomas-Noone and Nonresident Fellow Professor Rory Medcalf examine the implications of sea-based nuclear weapons for…
Despite protests, collective self-defence and Abe remain
There were huge protests over the weekend in Japan against legislation, approved in principle by the Abe cabinet in July, which will reinterpret the Japanese Constitution to…
Hegemon: Wargaming the South China Sea
Hegemon is a wickedly interactive multi-player/multi-round geostrategic game devised by the Potomac Foundation. Each player represents a country, fielding certain economic and…
Dredging fleet shores up Beijing's position in South China Sea and beyond
By Dr Andrew Erickson, Associate Professor at the US Naval War College,  and Research Intern Kevin Bond at the China Maritime Studies Institute, US Naval War College China's…
The growing militarisation of the South China Sea
It's increasingly clear that China intends to use its artificial islands in the South China Sea for military purposes. Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command,…
Japanese defence normalisation: Progress on three fronts
Over the last two months, there has been noticeable progress on three separate fronts in Japan's 30-year process of 'renormalising' its' approach to external defence: Last week,…
Here be pirates: Why Southeast Asia needs to boost maritime cooperation
Source: IMB data, compiled by Elliot Brennan. On 1 April, a Malaysia-flagged tanker was attacked and hijacked by 15 to 25 armed pirates off the coast of Borneo. The crew was held…
South China Sea: Why Korea is silent, and why that's a good thing
Last month on The Diplomat, Van Jackson made an important argument about South Korea's increasingly notable silence on freedom of navigation in the South China Sea (South China…
The perception gap: reading China's maritime objectives in Indo-Pacific Asia
Reports
The perception gap: reading China's maritime objectives in Indo-Pacific Asia
In this Lowy Institute Report Nonresident Fellows Linda Jakobson and Rory Medcalf identify both the real differences in interests between China and other powers in the Indo…