NATO emphasises that a strong defence industrial base is essential for security, ensuring armed forces have the equipment, production capacity and technological innovation required to maintain readiness, deterrence, and collective defence across the Alliance.

AI can produce fast, convincing outputs; yet hidden flaws, bias, and overconfidence risk misleading decisions. Careful oversight and informed use are essential to avoid costly errors. Responsible use requires training, awareness, and clear boundaries.

Tensions in distant waterways expose how reliant Australia is on nearby routes, highlighting the need for closer regional cooperation, better planning, and a clearer understanding of shared maritime risks. Indonesian straits are energy critical.

Successful testing of the Draper liquid rocket engine demonstrates a throttleable, restartable, and mass-producible propulsion system, enabling affordable supersonic missile capability, rapid development, and scalable strike technology to strengthen deterrence and future defence readiness.

Traditional mine clearance methods remain slow and resource heavy. Uncrewed systems reduce risk to personnel, while new modular designs allow flexible deployment across different vessels. Collaboration with industry supports rapid capability development and testing.

Three important studies have found no strong evidence that psychedelics or cannabis effectively treat depression or other mental health conditions, warning they may even worsen symptoms and should not be first‑line treatments without further research.

Nine analysts provide different perspectives in this article, including the need for clearer prioritisation of capability development efforts. The strategy emphasises long-term resilience and preparedness planning, while sharpening the focus on deterrence and regional stability.

The visit provided the Committee with an overview of the Allied Air Command’s role in securing NATO airspace and highlighted how integrated air and missile defence, and multi-domain air power were central to collective deterrence.

NATO and Indo-Pacific partners are expanding cyber defence cooperation, emphasising AI-enabled detection, anticipatory resilience, and technical interoperability to strengthen multi-domain operations and maintain operational advantage in modern information warfare environments.

The collaboration combines technologies that will deliver a scalable, layered counter-UAS capability designed for rapid detection and defeat of modern drone threats. The two companies will partner on projects that address emerging counter-UAS requirements.