Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
US Commerce Secretary Howard William Lutnick and Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa shake hands on on September 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) sails in formation during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise on July 28, 2022. (DVIDS)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
A microchip and Taiwanese flag displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo on April 10, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
Paratroopers take part in the Caucasus 2020 joint military drills, which included Russian and Belarusian troops, on September 25, 2020, in Southern Russia. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian servicemen at a site of a residential building destroyed by a Russian missile attack near Kyiv, Ukraine on November 23, 2022. (Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
An unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) operator recovers a MK 18 MOD 2 UUV after an operational test off the coast of Bahrain on October 20, 2015. (US Navy Photo by Jonah Stepanik)
Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ships JS Kashima and JS Shimakaze take part in joint drills with NATO allies on June 6, 2022, in the Mediterranean Sea. (Michelle Tucker via DVIDS)
Ukrainian Army soldier Ihor Gutsenko gets ready to fly an Airlogix unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance drone in a field outside Kyiv on November 9, 2022. (Paula Bronstein via Getty Images)
Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division conduct a systems check on their VROD/VMAX electronic warfare equipment before conducting a tactical exercise in El Paso, Texas, on November 20, 2018. (US Army Photo)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meet with Republic of Korea’s Minister of Defense Suh Wook for the 53rd US-Republic of Korea Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul, South Korea, on December 2, 2021. (DOD Photo by Navy Chief Petty Officer Carlos M. Vazquez II)
Chinese J-20 stealth fighters of the People's Liberation Army Air Force perform at Airshow China 2022 in Zhuhai, China, on November 8, 2022. (CNS/AFP via Getty Images)
A US Navy Douglas F4D-1 Skyray assigned to Carrier Air Group 21 (CVG-21) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in flight off Taiwan, circa 1958. (Wikimedia Commons)