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)
US Marines formed as an Electronic Warfare Support Team with 2nd Radio Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, near Setermoen, Norway, March 14, 2020. (US Marine Corps).
Britain's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives in New York on October 19, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Russian soldiers stand near a Topol-M ICBM while participating in a rehearsal for the nation's Victory Day parade outside Moscow in Alabino on April 22, 2008.
US Navy USS Donald Cook class guided missile destroyer during an exercise how simulate a humanitarian response to a powerful earthquake and significant movement of IDF vessels and foreign vessels in the Mediterranean sea
The authors argue that more funding should be driven by combatant commanders such as U.S. Central Command's Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, seen here boarding a UH-60 Black Hawk in Saudi Arabia in 2020.