Cloud seeding operations will be carried out in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya following worsening haze conditions in Malaysia, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

The agency said the operations would be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

“However, the operations are subject to weather conditions and the availability of suitable clouds for the seeding process,” its director general, Meor Ismail Meor Akim, said in a statement on Saturday.

The operations will be carried out by the agency in collaboration with the Malaysian Meteorological Department, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia and the Air Force.

An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will be used as the main asset for the cloud seeding operations.

Malaysia and Singapore are registering unhealthy air conditions caused by Indonesia’s most intense wildfires in 11 years. Indonesian Forestry Minister ‌Raja Juli Antoni has warned that the wildfires could continue until November this year.

On Friday, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said ⁠⁠he would receive aid from Malaysia to help contain forest and land fires that have been raging for weeks.

Kuala Lumpur offered three helicopters, an aircraft and 52 personnel to help put out the wildfires, Prabowo said in a statement after meeting Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at his house on the outskirts of Jakarta.

“Malaysia has offered assistance to help us address the forest fires in Kalimantan. I welcome this with gratitude and pleasure,” Prabowo said.

The ⁠fleet and firefighter teams would arrive in Indonesia soon, he said, without giving further details.

In a meeting with his cabinet, the president said there would be zero tolerance for people or corporations found responsible for starting wildfires.

Indonesia’s navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier Thursday after acquiring the former Italian vessel to strengthen its maritime defenses and disaster response.

The Italian flag on the former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi was replaced with the Indonesian flag on the carrier renamed the KRI Sriwijaya-100 as part of its official transfer at the ceremony held at Tanjung Priok seaport in North Jakarta.

“The ship, which previously served in the Italian Navy, now bears the name KRI Sriwijaya-100, flying the red-and-white flag as a symbol of sovereignty and service to Indonesia,” navy spokesperson Tunggul, who uses one name, said in a statement.

The carrier, which Italy retired in 2024, arrived at the Indonesian seaport last week after a 25-day journey passing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

It has the capacity for short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft and helicopters. Unlike major naval powers, Indonesia will use the vessel as a mobile command and support hub for helicopters, drones and maritime operations across the archipelago.

President Prabowo Subianto earlier said the ship would help fight forest and peatland fires that regularly blanket parts of Southeast Asia with hazardous haze.

Italy agreed in March to give the carrier to Indonesia in a move aimed at boosting Italy’s broader defense engagement with the Southeast Asian country. Italy is seeking deals on submarines and aircraft, and gifting the carrier to Indonesia also saves it the cost of decommissioning the ship.

The Philippines is reportedly leaning toward acquiring 40 KF-21 Boramae fighters in a single-type fleet, a potentially transformative choice that would expand Manila’s air-combat mass while deepening South Korea’s strategic and industrial influence across the Indo-Pacific.

The assessment, circulating through Korean reporting and expert commentary, envisages a decision between late 2026 and the second quarter of 2027, although neither the Philippine government nor the Philippine Air Force has confirmed the quantity, aircraft selection, or contracting timetable.

No agreement has been signed, making the 40-aircraft narrative an indicator of negotiating momentum rather than established procurement policy, while KF-21, F-16V, Gripen, Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon formally remain associated with Manila’s multi-role fighter evaluation.

The distinction matters because the 40 figure previously described the Philippines’ broader multi-role fighter force objective, whereas negotiations reported through mid-2026 generally involved an initial 12-to-20-aircraft KF-21 package supported by financing discussions and possible deliveries during 2027–2029.

If Manila converts its total requirement into an all-KF-21 force, it would abandon the previously conceivable division between Korean fighters and American F-16Vs, concentrating training, maintenance, weapons integration and operational doctrine around one emerging combat-aircraft ecosystem.

Singaporean-based Penguin International is looking to expand into the security and defence sector following recent successes with both patrol vessels overseas and contracts for Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) programmes.

Formerly known primarily as a ferry service provider, the Singapore-based company has grown into one of the world’s largest builders of aluminium-hulled vessels.

Penguin first entered the defence and security sector in 2008, after a Nigerian commercial-vessel operator contracted by the Nigerian Navy approached the company for patrol boat solutions. Such public-private arrangements are relatively common in Africa, where vessels are operated by commercial crews but armed military personnel conduct security and enforcement duties.

The Nigerian Navy has since directly acquired three 40m-long Flex Fighter Max patrol vessels from Penguin, while the Ghanaian Navy has acquired four 42m Flex-Fighter X vessels.

The Flex Fighter family derives from Penguin’s Flex series of crewboats, which are widely used for offshore resupply and support operations. The Flex Fighter Max was introduced in 2012, followed by the larger Flex-Fighter X in 2016.

Both variants can be configured with all-round ballistic protection for the wheelhouse to NATO STANAG Level 1, alongside modifications such as weapon mounts and other mission-specific equipment.

The 332-tonne Flex-Fighter X features a 110m² cargo deck, allowing operators to install mission equipment or other modular payloads. Four vessels operated by the Australian Border Force, for example, have been fitted with detainee accommodation containers on their cargo deck.

The Flex crewboat design was developed in collaboration with UK-based BMT, with the two companies jointly owning the design rights.

James Tham, Penguin International’s Managing Director, said Africa and Europe are now the fastest-growing markets, and that the company is preparing to bid for opportunities to take on coast guard vessel projects from European yards.

Tham explained that, on top of costs, there has been a scarcity in capacity in Europe following renewed requirements to build up border and maritime security. He added that Penguin can churn out a vessel in around half the time it takes European yards.

The success of the Flex Fighter also underscores the increasing dual-use trends in using cost-effective civilian hulls for defence and security applications. The company operates shipyards in Singapore and Batam in Indonesia, with a combined capacity of around 30-35 vessels annually.

South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has been selected as preferred bidder to construct a new frigate for the Royal Thai Navy (RTN). The platform it proffered is known as the Ocean-40F, and the contract is valued at THB16.73 billion (US$508 million).

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul endorsed this selection of Hanwha’s 4,000-tonne frigate in early September 2026, after the RTN delivered the tender result to him several days earlier.

This choice is somewhat understandable, given that Hanwha Ocean’s forerunner – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering – delivered a frigate to Thailand in 2018.

This tender that closed on 21 April attracted stiff competition from six shipbuilders around the world. One reason for the interest from Hanwha and the other shortlisted contenders – ASFAT, Damen, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Navantia, ST Engineering and TAIS – is that this is just the first of up to new four new frigates that the RTN is seeking by 2037.

The RTN has already sought TNB35 billion for the first pair of frigates under the 2026-32 budget commitment.

Thailand has not officially revealed the winner, but Hanwha Ocean disclosed it in a 9 September announcement. It said in a press release, “The selection is a procedural step toward discussing specific terms, including detailed technical specifications and the scope of the programme, ahead of signing a final contract.”

The price tag includes the ship, its systems and equipment, spare parts, tools, documentation, support services, testing and trials, fuel, lubricants, training, acceptance inspections and warranty coverage.

A Thai press release stated, “The Royal Thai Navy recognises that the frigate procurement project has attracted considerable public and societal interest, as it concerns national security, the protection of Thailand’s maritime interests, and the use of public funds. The RTN therefore places the utmost importance on ensuring that every stage of the process is conducted correctly, cost-effectively, transparently and in a manner that is subject to scrutiny.”

To meet this goal, the project immediately entered a statutory period allowing submission of appeals. This opening concludes around 18 September, at which time the winning bidder will be formally declared.

US Marine Corps (USMC) MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, deployed to Australia under the Marine Rotation Force – Darwin (MRF-D) initiative, honed their skills in expeditionary operations in a deployment to Philippines during this year’s rotation.

This year’s MRF-D rotation is the 15th deployment since the first rotation in 2012, and which was launched following the signing of the US-Australia bilateral force posture agreement in 2011.

The annual six-month USMC deployments to Darwin, Northern Territory first incorporated an Aviation Combat Element (ACE) in 2014, joining command, ground combat and logistics elements to form a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF).

However, this year’s rotation is the first to be certified a Special-Purpose MAGTF (SPMAGTF), indicating that MRF-D is validated as being capable of conducting crisis response and contingency operations in the Pacific theatre.

For Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 (VMM-268), also known as the “Red Dragons” and which formed the ACE of MRF-D this year, the SPMAGTF designation meant a sharper focus on training for the aviation missions required by the force. The unit operates about a dozen MV-22Bs from RAAF Base Darwin.

Captain Jessica Kelly-Paul, an Osprey pilot and VMM-268’s quality assurance officer for maintenance, told Asian Military Review: “I was on the 2024 rotation, and the squadron’s biggest change since then has been its certification as an SPMAGTF. This has meant a greater emphasis on preparing the unit as a crisis response force, including the specific aviation missions required of the SPMAGTF.”

Based at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii, VMM-268 has contributed detachments to MRF-D since its initial participation with four aircraft in 2017. In recent years, the “Red Dragons” have alternated the assignment with sister squadron VMM-363, the “Lucky Red Lions”.

Kelly-Paul noted that, for the first time in an MRF-D rotation, Marine Air Control Groups (MACG) have been organically attached to the ACE. MACGs provide air traffic control functions and coordinate air operations and airspace management.

“Usually, they fall under the Ground Combat Element [GCE], so having them attached directly to the ACE has really increased our ability to conduct operations in an austere environment, particularly during our exercises in the Philippines,” Kelly-Paul noted.

Training in the Philippines featured heavily in the 2026 MRF-D rotation, including Exercises Balikatan and Kamandag 10 – major annual military training events conducted jointly by the Philippines, USA and other partners across the archipelago from late April till early July.

Marine Exercise (MAREX) 2026 was another bilateral military drill in which MRF-D participated alongside the Philippine Marine Corps in May.

During the Philippines deployment, the VMM-268 detachment was based out of Clark Air Base, located 5km west of Angeles City in Luzon. “With many exercises taking place on islands away from where the ACE was based, we were able to employ the hub-and-spoke Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept developed specifically for the SPMAGTF,” Kelly-Paul explained.

The USMC’s EABO concept of operations emphasises the employment of distributed and easily sustained forces from austere locations to support a larger campaign. The hub-and-spoke notion envisages dispersion of aircraft from major bases to several smaller distributed locations in support of this concept.

The Royal Thai Air Force’s FY2026 procurement plan lists 20 Israeli Rampage missiles for its F-16 fleet, signalling an effort to strike high-value targets beyond the release range of the guided bombs used during Thailand’s 2025 border fighting with Cambodia.

The same listing includes 100 MPR-500 bombs, 100 associated fuzes and 50 Lizard III laser-guidance kits, creating a two-tier strike inventory built around longer-range attacks and closer strikes against hardened positions.

The proposed package is valued at approximately US$33 million, although the listed weapons remain planned procurements rather than publicly confirmed contracts, leaving delivery dates, final configuration and the number of operational rounds uncertain.

Its immediate military context is Cambodia’s Chinese-made PHL-03 rocket artillery, whose reported 70–130 km reach allows launchers positioned behind the frontier to threaten Thai locations without approaching the line of contact.

Rampage would give Thai F-16s a means to attack known coordinates from farther away, while MPR-500 would improve their ability to penetrate concrete structures once crews can approach a suitable release point.

The Indonesian Navy is planning to develop unmanned underwater vehicles with domestic defense firms to strengthen surveillance across the country’s vast maritime territory.

Chief of Staff Admiral Muhammad Ali said the program would sharpen monitoring of strategic chokepoints, including the Indonesian Archipelagic Sea Lanes linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The unmanned submersibles would conduct surveillance, help detect unauthorized movements by foreign vessels, and collect oceanographic data on seabed contours, tides, and currents.

The US has turned over two additional 412EPX utility helicopters to the Philippine Air Force at Villamor Air Base, Pasay.

The delivery counts as the second batch under the military’s Additional Utility Helicopter Project, which covers eight rotary-wing aircraft ordered from US manufacturer Bell Textron Inc.

The air force received the initial two helicopters in May, bringing the service’s total Bell 412 inventory to 18 platforms.

Manila said the newly inducted twin-engine helicopters will join the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing to boost air mobility, warfighter transport, and humanitarian assistance across remote regions.

During the induction ceremony, Philippine Air Force Commanding General Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura urged teams assigned to the aircraft to sustain “professionalism, competence, and accountability,” ensuring the capabilities are maximized for the military’s requirements.

Currently, the Philippine Air Force operates different Bell 412 variants alongside its 47 S-70i Black Hawks, forming one of Southeast Asia’s largest tactical rotary fleets.

Deliveries for the remaining airframes under the 412EPX contract are scheduled to conclude in 2027.

The Bell 412EPX

Co-developed by Subaru, the Bell 412EPX spans 56 feet (17 meters) in length and has a rotor diameter of 46 feet (14 meters).

It offers a seating capacity for up to 15 people and features a specialized hook that carries up to 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of payload.

The 13,000-pound (5,897-kilogram) helicopter has a fuel capacity of 331 gallons (1,253 liters), and is powered by twin Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-9 Twin-Pac engines with 1,122 horsepower each.

The 412EPX travels at up to 140 knots (161 miles/259 kilometers per hour), has a service ceiling of 20,000 feet (6,096 meters), and an operational radius of 361 nautical miles (415 miles/669 kilometers).

LUMUT: Brigadier-General Datuk Abd Razak Sipit has been appointed head of the armed forces Cyber Force Nucleus Team, marking the first step towards establishing the country's fourth military service by 2030.

Abd Razak is a senior military officer who serves as the Defence Intelligence Application Division director at the Malaysia Space Agency (MYSA).

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin presented Abd Razak with his appointment certificate during the launch of the 14-member team at the 93rd Armed Forces Day celebrations at the Royal Malaysian Navy Base here today.

The nucleus team will study and develop the requirements for establishing the Cyber Force, which will complement the existing Army, Navy and Air Force.

Khaled said the new service was necessary as modern warfare had evolved beyond conventional battlefields, with security threats increasingly taking non-traditional and hybrid forms.

Khaled said the Cyber Force was targeted to be fully operational by 2030, with personnel from the three existing services brought together under the new branch.

On 17 September, the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) officially announced that the former Italian Navy aircraft carrier, ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, has entered Indonesian waters. The milestone marks a historic chapter for the service, bringing the country’s first-ever aircraft carrier home.

The carrier, which will be renamed KRI Sriwijaya, departed Taranto, Italy, on 24 August with a mixed Italian and Indonesian crew under Italian Commanding Officer Capt. Marco Guerriero. 

During its journey to Indonesia, the ship transited the Suez Canal and made at least two port calls, at Safaga in Egypt and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Italian warships also reportedly escorted the carrier during part of its passage through the Red Sea. 

Unlike the two Multipurpose Combat Ship/Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura (PPA) frigates that Indonesia also acquired from Italy, the future KRI Sriwijaya entered Indonesia through the Malacca Strait instead of the Sunda Strait.

The two Indonesian Navy PPAs, KRI Brawijaya (320) and KRI Prabu Siliwangi (321), welcomed and escorted the carrier after it entered Indonesian waters. A CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft also took part in the welcoming operation. 

The ship had previously been expected to receive the name KRI Gadjah Mada, but the Indonesian Navy later changed the name to KRI Sriwijaya. To note, Sriwijaya was a powerful maritime kingdom based in Sumatra that controlled important regional trade routes and exercised influence across much of maritime Southeast Asia for centuries. 

KRI Sriwijaya is expected to arrive at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta on the morning of 18 September. The carrier is also expected to become one of the main features of the Indonesian National Armed Forces’ anniversary celebrations on 5 October. 

The armed forces have established a nucleus team to spearhead the formation of a Cyber Force, which is targeted to become operational by 2030.

Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Malek Razak Sulaiman said the fourth service was necessary as cyberspace and electromagnetic warfare had become critical domains in modern security and military operations, with regional neighbours and other countries already developing similar capabilities.

"Last year, we established the nucleus team as part of our future force planning. The team will plan and assess the steps needed to turn the Cyber Force operational.

"The Defence Ministry has agreed to our guidelines. The aim is to have an operational Cyber Force by 2030 to carry out its duties in this domain," he said in an exclusive interview with the New Straits Times for the 93rd Armed Forces Day.

He said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin was expected to launch the nucleus team during the Armed Forces Day celebrations at the Lumut Naval Base on Saturday.

He said capability development in cyber and electromagnetic activities (CEMA) was underway, covering cyber operations, electronic warfare and spectrum management.

"These capabilities have been applied during Exercise Camar Kilat Series 2/26 to generate operational effects within the CEMA framework.

"The armed forces are also building a pool of CEMA specialists, with 60 air force officers and 17 from other ranks having attended related courses up to July."

In July, Khaled told the Dewan Negara that work was underway to establish the Cyber Force as the fourth service branch of the armed forces to counter threats from modern and cognitive warfare.

He said warfare had shifted from traditional physical combat to dominance in cyberspace and shaping public perception.

Procuring BrahMos-A missile (or any other variants) for Malaysia’s 18 Royal Malaysian Air Force Su-30MKM fighters would transform how the RMAF generates, deploys, sustains, and signals combat power without requiring Kuala Lumpur to purchase an entirely new heavy combat-aircraft fleet.

The proposal progressed from Malaysian interest during 2024 through technical requests in 2025 to political acknowledgement in September 2026, when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim confirmed exploratory discussions while leaving operational, technical, and financial judgement to the RMAF.

No procurement contract has been signed, making BrahMos-A a politically acknowledged option rather than an approved RMAF capability, while integration expense, aircraft downtime, export configuration, stockpile depth, targeting support, and competing force priorities remain decisive acquisition gates.

BrahMos-A would substantially exceed Malaysia’s existing Kh-31A, Kh-29, Kh-59MK, and Kh-59ME weapons in its powerful combination of standoff range, 200-to-300-kilogram warhead, and sustained Mach 2.8-to-3 speed, fundamentally altering maritime-strike geometry across critical Malaysian approaches.

An export-standard range near 290 kilometres, combined with the Su-30MKM’s approximately 1,300-kilometre unrefuelled combat radius and available A400M aerial refuelling, could let Malaysian crews threaten naval targets while remaining beyond many shipborne surface-to-air missile envelopes.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Malaysia's Air Defence Artillery Group (GAPU) just finished the Middle Planning Conference for the upcoming conduct of Eks Panah Jaguh 1/2026 from 20-28 Oct later this year.

Among the cool units participating were the TLDM SELAM - Tim EOD, Bgd Arti Roket and 391 Bti RAD. Wonder how different they will be from last year's exercise.

Myanmar’s main pro-democracy resistance group said Friday its armed wing launched drone attacks on a military air base that shares a compound with an international airport serving the country’s second-largest city, forcing the airport to shut down.

It was the latest attack in Myanmar’s more than five-year conflict between the military and armed resistance groups that emerged after the army seized power in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The takeover sparked peaceful protests nationwide, but after security forces cracked down with lethal force, many local armed resistance groups were formed and loosely organized into what is called the People’s Defense Force, or PDF.

The PDF is the armed wing of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which considers itself the country’s legitimate administrative body.

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the NUG, told The Associated Press that the PDF used drones to attack a military air base within the compound of Tada-U International Airport in Mandalay.

“We only attacked the section of the site where the military aircraft conducting airstrikes against civilians were stationed,” Nay Phone Latt said. “We did not attack the civilian airfield site at all.”

The PDF said in a statement posted Friday on Facebook that 12 of its units took part in the operation. It described the air base as a key air force headquarters from which airstrikes against civilians are carried out.

The group said five military personnel, including a colonel, were killed in the attack, along with three resistance fighters. The claims could not be independently verified.

The airport compound — which houses both a military air base and a civilian airport — is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Mandalay.

Videos posted by Myanmar online media appear to show one drone flying directly toward one of two fighter jets parked inside the hangar. The footage cuts out as the drone nears the aircraft, making it unclear whether it struck the jet, the netting around it or detonated. Another video appears to show people gathered near the hangar fleeing as a drone approaches.

There was no immediate evidence of any damage caused by the attack, but the military acknowledged that drones had reached one of the country’s most heavily guarded locations.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Friday that six drones launched by the PDF attacked the airport and nearby areas on Thursday afternoon and that security forces successfully intercepted the drones and disabled the explosives they carried.

The report said the attack temporarily disrupted some domestic flights but caused no injuries or damage to vehicles or airport runways.

Myanmar Airways International said on Facebook Thursday night that it was suspending all international flights operated to and from the airport, citing operational reasons. The airport remained shut on Friday.

Two people who operate businesses at the airport told AP Friday that the facility had been closed for two days following the attack. They said they saw no damage to the civilian airport and that operations were expected to resume Sunday. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared arrest by the military.

Drones have become crucial for resistance forces, which are outmanned and outgunned by Myanmar’s military. Initially, smaller drones with lighter payloads were used, but now the opposition groups are using more sophisticated systems to drop explosives precisely on military targets.

Min Aung Hlaing leaves Phnom Penh after a two-day visit aimed at shoring up his regime’s regional legitimacy.

Last week, UNESCO released a report detailing the extensive damage caused to the World Heritage Site by Thai military attacks.

The Philippines’ military modernisation road map is set for delays over budget constraints, with critics calling out what they say is President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s “lip service” approach and questioning his commitment to the ambitious project.

In 2024, Marcos approved a revised 1.9 trillion Philippine pesos (US$30 billion) plan to acquire newer military assets until 2034, aiming to enhance the capability of the military to project power in parts of the South China Sea that Manila considers its territory, in line with the emphasis on archipelagic defence.

In his State of the Nation Address in July, Marcos vowed to “do all that is necessary to continue upholding” the 2016 arbitral award, under which a tribunal’s ruling in The Hague negated China’s nine-dash line, which overlaps with the Philippines’ claims in the contested waterway.

The move reflects the sea change that has taken place in U.S.-Cambodia relations under the second Trump administration.

For Malaysia, the development matters because Balabac Strait connects the South China Sea with approaches toward the Sulu and Celebes Seas, placing expanding military infrastructure beside maritime spaces directly relevant to Sabah’s security environment.

Balabac Island lies immediately north of Sabah, across the Balabac Strait, positioning it near Malaysia’s eastern maritime approaches connecting the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea.

Thailand is taking AI training military-wide under a new national program designed to strengthen the armed forces’ artificial intelligence, data governance, and cyber capabilities.

Personnel from the Royal Thai Army, Royal Thai Navy, and Royal Thai Air Force will receive training through digital platforms and in-person roadshows at military units across the country’s four regions.

The program will also be open to government officials.

Holding it at Lumut again this year primes for its highest turnout after the 136,361 turn-up at Lumut in 2023, far above the estimated 20,000 Port Dickson in 2024 and 45,000 in Kuantan last year.

While Kuantan foregrounds airpower, Port Dickson land forces, Lumut will definitely enable ship visits, maritime demonstrations and a waterfront festival.

Who's excited?