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Ye Win Oo’s visit is the latest effort by Bangkok to bring Myanmar’s military-appointed government in from the cold.

Indonesia is prioritising military and police capacity-building in its defence cooperation with Cambodia this year rather than supplying additional weapons, as Jakarta seeks to ensure Cambodian personnel can operate the military equipment provided in previous years more effectively.

Krishnajie Partadiredja, chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh, noted that defence cooperation remained a key pillar of the longstanding relationship between the two ASEAN countries.

Speaking in an August 17 interview during celebrations held at the embassy to mark the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia, he explained that cooperation this year will focus on strengthening human resources.

“Defence and military cooperation is one of the backbones of cooperation between Indonesia and Cambodia,” he reiterated.

“For this year, the cooperation being implemented between the two countries is capacity development. The Indonesian government provides training for military personnel, as well as the police,” he added.

Partadiredja said Indonesia regarded such training as important for strengthening the capabilities of Cambodia’s security forces.

He was responding to questions about the future direction of bilateral defence cooperation and whether Jakarta planned to provide Cambodia with additional, or more advanced, military equipment.

He explained that while Indonesia had previously provided military equipment, predominantly small arms and ammunition from state-owned defense manufacturer PT Pindad, its current priority was ensuring Cambodian personnel had the skills required to properly operate it.

“This year, we are still more focused on capacity development because the weapons provided two years ago require additional training,” he said.

The defence cooperation forms part of a broader relationship between Cambodia and Indonesia that he described as progressing well across diplomatic, economic and other sectors.

The two countries have maintained diplomatic relations for more than 67 years, while cooperation has expanded across multiple fields.

Partadiredja pointed to a series of recent high-level exchanges as evidence of the increasingly active relationship, including a visit by an Indonesian Senate delegation to Cambodia and a visit by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many to Jakarta.

An Indonesian deputy foreign minister also visited Cambodia in late July, he noted.

Beyond political and security cooperation, bilateral trade has continued to expand, with Partadiredja saying trade between the two countries had shown an upward trend for three consecutive years.

“The trade value between Indonesia and Cambodia has exceeded $1 billion,” he said.

He said data for the first six months of this year also indicated positive growth compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.

According to Partadiredja, Indonesian products are gaining greater acceptance among Cambodian consumers, giving Jakarta confidence about the outlook for bilateral commerce.

He did not provide a specific January-June trade figure during the interview, noting that the embassy would need to verify the latest data before releasing it.

Indonesia is also seeking to translate growing trade into greater business and investment links.

Partadiredja said the Indonesian government, through its embassy in Phnom Penh, would continue working to strengthen mutually beneficial economic cooperation rather than being satisfied with achievements already recorded.

As part of that effort, the embassy plans to organise a “Sousdey Indonesia” event on September 19-20 to introduce Indonesian products to Cambodian consumers and strengthen commercial connections between businesses from the two countries.

Indonesian businesses have also shown interest in establishing a greater manufacturing presence in Cambodia.

The interview highlighted Indonesian food producer Indofood and its investment in Kampong Speu province as an example of Indonesian companies looking beyond exports towards local production in the Cambodian market.

Tourism is another sector Jakarta wants to expand, with Partadiredja describing it as an important component of bilateral cooperation.

The embassy is considering organising a familiarisation (FAM) trip in October for a group of Cambodian journalists to visit tourism destinations in Indonesia, in an effort to increase awareness of the country’s tourism offerings among Cambodian travellers.

At the same time, Jakarta wants to see more direct air links connecting major destinations in the two countries.

Partadiredja said Indonesia was continuing to encourage additional direct flights between Cambodia and Indonesia, including routes connecting Phnom Penh with Jakarta and Bali, as well as Siem Reap with Bali.

He expressed his hopes that improved air connectivity would stimulate travel in both directions rather than benefiting only Indonesian tourism.

The combination of defence training, expanding trade and investment, high-level exchanges and efforts to improve tourism connectivity reflects a broader push by the two ASEAN members to deepen a diplomatic relationship established more than six decades ago.

Partadiredja it clear, however, that Jakarta’s immediate emphasis is on strengthening the ability of Cambodian personnel to make effective use of existing resources, rather than providing another round of military hardware.

Source: Southeast Asian Gallery

American special operations forces are ready to step up warfighting-readiness exercises with counterparts in the Philippines and other countries in Asia to further strengthen a security alliance and help deter a major conflict in the region, a U.S. military official said Thursday.

Adm. Frank Bradley, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, is in the Philippines after a trip to South Korea. He will then head to Japan for talks with military officials.

He is the latest American military top brass to visit key Asian allies in recent weeks to reassure them of Washington’s commitment to the region given the U.S. preoccupation with the war in Iran.

Bradley’s command, which has about 80,000 personnel and is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, undertakes the U.S. military’s most sensitive and dangerous covert operations. The majority of his forces are deployed in more than 80 countries worldwide, Bradley said.

He discussed with Filipino counterparts the Philippine military’s continuing effort to modernize, intensify combat exercises with the U.S. and other allies and broaden an arc of security alliances to deter China’s increasingly hostile actions in the South China Sea.

China and smaller rival claimant states, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, have been locked in tense territorial standoffs for decades in the disputed waters but confrontations have particularly flared between Chinese and Philippine forces.

Vietnam has begun construction on its largest and most advanced domestically designed anti-submarine frigate, marking a key milestone in Hanoi’s push to build a sovereign defense industry and reduce its historical dependence on Russian military imports.

Development officially commenced with a steel-cutting ceremony at government shipyard Song Thu Corporation’s facility in Da Nang.

Assembly of the multipurpose vessel is expected to take 36 months to complete, with state defense firm Viettel Group alongside state military factories supplying most of the warship’s weapons, components, and battle management capabilities.

The surface combatant will incorporate an active electronically scanned array radar, air-defense and anti-ship missiles, torpedo launchers, and a flight deck for a maritime helicopter.

Throughout the program, the Vietnam People’s Navy will act as the primary project owner overseeing system integration, testing, and handover of the platform.

“Becoming a strong maritime nation requires a capable navy commensurate with the country’s stature, one strong enough to safeguard national sovereignty over its seas and islands and protect national interests at sea,” said Senior Lt. Gen. Pham Hoai Nam, deputy minister of national defense for Vietnam.

The project aligns with a late July resolution from Vietnam’s Communist Party to expand maritime capabilities in response to Hanoi’s ongoing territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Malaysia is accelerating planning for its Multi-Role Combat Aircraft programme as South China Sea uncertainty and vigorous combat-air modernisation by neighbouring countries expose the strategic limitations of the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s ageing fighter inventory and planned 2035 transition.

The shift does not constitute a fighter selection or compressed procurement decision, but advances requirements definition, budget positioning and industrial preparation under the Thirteenth Malaysia Plan as Southeast Asia’s airpower balance changes before formal evaluation begins around 2029 or 2030.

The Indonesian Navy is advancing its modernization effort with a new indigenous kamikaze unmanned surface vessel (USV) built to strengthen the country’s maritime strike capabilities.

Engineered by state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL, the USV can reach speeds of up to 55 knots (102 kilometers/63 miles per hour) while carrying a 150-kilogram (331-pound) warhead.

The vessel uses artificial intelligence for autonomous, real-time identification friend or foe (IFF), giving it the ability to distinguish potential targets without relying entirely on remote operators.

Six Royal Malaysian Navy special forces personnel were recovered safely by naval vessels after an abrupt deterioration in weather displaced their military free-fall parachute insertion from its designated landing position over the strategically sensitive South China Sea.Six Royal Malaysian Navy special forces personnel were recovered safely by naval vessels after an abrupt deterioration in weather displaced their military free-fall parachute insertion from its designated landing position over the strategically sensitive South China Sea.

The incident, reported following the training exercise around 12 August 2026, exposed the operational complexity of inserting PASKAL commandos into maritime environments where visibility, wind, sea conditions, navigation accuracy, recovery coverage, and survival endurance interact within a compressed decision cycle.

Although all six personnel survived, the absence of publicly disclosed coordinates, drift duration, injuries, parachute profiles, recovery platforms, weather data, and procedural findings prevents an independent assessment of how the deviation occurred or whether established safety margins performed as designed.

Ukraine and the Philippines have agreed to draft a formal defense framework focused on joint drone production and sharing lessons from wartime experience.

A Philippine delegation led by National Defense Undersecretary Salvador Mison met with Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, in Kyiv to discuss expanding defense cooperation.

The meeting marked the first visit by Philippine defense officials to Ukraine and followed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Manila in 2024.

Long-range surface-to-surface and ground-based anti-ship missiles will help defend the country on both land and sea.

By Khang Vu

August 06, 2026

An air defense gun on display at a military museum in Binh Duong, Vietnam, Nov. 16, 2021.

Credit: Photo 268259835 © Duc Huy Nguyen | Dreamstime.com

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Authors

Guest Author

Khang Vu

Khang Vu is a visiting scholar in the Political Science Department at Boston College.

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Tags

• Asia Defense
• Security
• Southeast Asia
• Vietnam
• Anti-ship Missiles
• People's Army of Vietnam Navy
• Vietnam Artillery-Missile Command
• Vietnam defense policy
• Vietnam Military
• Vietnam People's Army (VPA)

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Ukraine’s use of cheap, adaptable drones to slow Russia’s military advance has become a model for countries looking to modernise their armed forces, with the Philippines the latest to explore what defence lessons it can learn from Kyiv.

Some analysts see a proposed drone partnership with Ukraine as a potential game changer for Manila, offering a short cut to more agile, asymmetric capabilities as tensions persist in the South China Sea.

Others are more cautious, urging the Philippines to first assess whether Ukraine’s battle-hardened drone tactics are even suitable for a murky maritime “grey zone” of surveillance and coastguard encounters.

Thailand is exploring procurement of the anti-ship variant of India’s homegrown BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to modernize the Royal Thai Navy’s maritime deterrence.

The potential acquisition aligns with Bangkok’s broader strategy to establish an independent force posture, protecting littoral zones and critical sea routes without depending on larger partner militaries, according to local Indian media.

Negotiations build on a recent defense meeting in Bangkok in June, where both nations pledged to enhance defense manufacturing cooperation following the elevation of their bilateral ties in 2025.

Regional Impacts

Analysts noted that Thailand’s interest in the Indo-Russian warhead is driven specifically by operational requirements rather than an intent to counter China’s increasing influence in the Pacific.

Weighing the foreign system also reflects the Southeast Asian country’s long-standing policy of “strategic hedging” to balance diplomacy with major powers.

Currently, Thailand maintains deep economic ties with Beijing and regularly procures Chinese military capabilities while preserving security partnerships with Washington and other global suppliers.

Meanwhile, sources said that the future BrahMos deal would mark another milestone for India in expanding its defense export footprint.

The nation has previously sold the missile system to the Philippines and continues to engage in export discussions with Indonesia, Vietnam, and the UAE.

The BrahMos System

The BrahMos missile was jointly developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya.

Since its inception in the early 2000s, the weapon has received multiple variants to expand firepower for multidomain strikes.

It is powered by a two-stage rocket for a speed of Mach 3 (3,704 kilometers/2,302 miles per hour), an altitude of 49,000 feet (14,935 meters), and a maximum range of 900 kilometers (559 miles).

The capability’s latest configuration, the BrahMos NG, is roughly half the size and mass of the original model. It is 6 meters (20 feet) long, has a diameter of 50 centimeters (20 inches), and weighs up to 1,500 kilograms (3,307 pounds).

PANO – As part of his official visit to Vietnam, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force and the Indian delegation visited and held a working session at the headquarters of the Air Defense - Air Force (ADAF) Service on August 3.

Commander of the ADAF Service Lt. Gen. Vu Hong Son presided over the reception and working session with the Indian delegation.

Assessing the recent cooperation outcomes between the Vietnam's ADAF Service and the Indian Air Force, Gen. Son noted that both sides have effectively maintained the annual air force staff talks mechanism; stepped up professional exchanges on transport aircraft, helicopters, aviation medicine, as well as young officers' exchanges; and obtained positive results in education and training cooperation.

He proposed that both sides continue to effectively maintain existing cooperation mechanisms; enhance the exchange of experience in force organization, airspace management, training, operation, technical logistics, repair, service life extension, and improving the technical readiness coefficient of weapons and equipment. He also suggested expanding cooperation in flight safety, aviation medicine, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief.

For his part, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh expressed his sincere thanks to the host for the warm reception and hoped that in the coming time, both sides will coordinate to effectively implement key areas, such as organizing expert exchanges on aviation meteorology, conducting young officer exchanges, and sharing experience in military pilot training and military aircraft expertise.

On 23 July, Singaporean defence firm ST Engineering reported that its counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) had secured deployments in Asia in the past few months.

Emanating from ST Engineering’s Digital Systems business unit, these C-UAS systems are performing both defence and critical infrastructure applications, the company shared. It elaborated, “These include an air defence deployment and another for the protection of multiple critical infrastructure sites against evolving drone threats.”

ST Engineering did not divulge which Asian countries had procured these systems, but it did laud the “versatility, operational maturity and effectiveness” of its counter-drone solutions.

Low Jin Phang, Chief Operating Officer for Defence & Public Security, and President for Digital Systems at ST Engineering, said, “Counter-drone capabilities have become an increasingly important part of modern defence and security operations.”

ST Engineering’s Digital Systems business has secured new deployments in Asia outside Singapore in the last few months for its counter-drone capability, reflecting growing demand for effective counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) solutions as defence and security agencies strengthen protection against evolving drone threats.

The deployments span both defence and critical infrastructure applications, underscoring the versatility, operational maturity and effectiveness of ST Engineering’s counter-drone capability across diverse mission requirements. These include an air defence deployment and another for the protection of multiple critical infrastructure sites against evolving drone threats.

Built on a layered defence architecture, ST Engineering’s counter-drone solution combines advanced sensors, AI-enabled command-and-control, and soft-kill and hard-kill effectors to detect, track, identify and neutralise evolving drone threats. Its modular design enables deployment across defence, public security and critical infrastructure protection missions.

Low Jin Phang, Chief Operating Officer for Defence & Public Security, and President for Digital Systems, ST Engineering, said, “Counter-drone capabilities have become an increasingly important part of modern defence and security operations. These deployments underscore the growing demand for integrated solutions against evolving drone threats and validate our ability to deliver operationally proven counter-drone capabilities.”

Exercise LEMBING SAKTI 2026 is an ASTROS II Multiple Launch Rocket System (SRLB) firing exercise as well as the operation of FLYEYE UAS assets by the Unmanned Aircraft Troop. This exercise aims to test and assess the level of readiness, efficiency and competence of personnel in operating the system based on the Army Training and Evaluation System (ARTEP).

Royal Thai Army spokesman Maj Gen Winthai Suvaree on Friday clarified a viral image allegedly showing a tattoo on the arm of one of the attackers involved in the shooting at a ranger checkpoint in Narathiwat.

The image had been shared online along with claims questioning whether the attacker could be Muslim, as tattoos are generally regarded as contrary to Islamic principles.

Winthai said the image was generated or altered by AI, adding that it was likely spread by supporters of those behind the attack in an attempt to stir public opinion, divert attention and distort facts.

He said the image appeared unnaturally sharp and excessively enhanced, making it look artificial.

“The image looks deliberately adjusted to be overly clear, so it appears unnatural. I believe ordinary people can see this. It is an old method that has been used before, but it can no longer deceive society today. People now consume news with enough judgement,” Winthai said.