On 13 October, Pakistan’s military media wing (ISPR) announced the test of the Fatah-2 ER, an extended-range variant of the Fatah-II, describing it as a hypersonic ballistic missile designed to defeat missile defences through its trajectory and manoeuvrability. The recently established Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC) conducted the launch.
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On October 14, the Chinese and Pakistani armies commenced a joint exercise designated as Karakoram-2026 at a training base in Korla, in China’s Xinjiang region. Beijing’s defence ministry called it “the first joint army training between the two countries” and said it would concentrate on counter-terrorism operations in high-altitude areas. The programme covers drone operation, shooting at moving targets, long-range sniping, joint command and live-troop drills.
The first-ever evaluation of Pakistan’s legislative and regulatory framework for nuclear security covering both he nuclear material and facilities has been conducted by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS). During 12- day review, the IPPAS teams viewed that “Pakistan has established a robust nuclear security regime for physical protection of nuclear material and nuclear facilities, which was observed to be appropriately implemented at the facility visited. The regime is continually improved and sustained through periodic reviews, and Pakistan’s well-established capacity building infrastructure benefits national, regional and international expertise in nuclear security.”
The international nuclear order has been transforming, witnessing both vertical and horizontal proliferation. Arms control arrangements have already been dismantled with the breakdown of New START between Russia and the United States (US) on 5 February 2026, and after the Iran-US war in the Middle East, the trust deficit has widened among NATO member allies regarding US security commitments. Moreover, the predatory approach of the Trump administration regarding the threat of annexation of Greenland from its NATO member ally, Denmark, engenders doubts among European NATO allies regarding the reliance on the US security guarantee.
On 30 September 2026, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans for an Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom. The four-star combatant command, with service-like acquisition authorities, would build and supply robotic and autonomous capabilities across the joint force. The Pentagon’s memo targets October 2027, subject to congressional approval.
The general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, which concluded in New York in September, showed how far the institution has drifted from its founding purpose. States continue to invoke the rules-based order while increasingly bypassing the body that embodies it.
NATO’s biggest challenge may no longer be Russia’s military power, but uncertainty over the Alliance’s political cohesion. The 2026 Ankara Summit marked a transformation in NATO’s strategic trajectory: moving from pledging defence spending to producing the military capabilities required for deterrence. But the Alliance’s military consolidation is happening amid unprecedented questions about transatlantic political cohesion.
In 1961, President Eisenhower, in his farewell address, warned against the increasing influence of the US military industrial complex (MIC) beyond the country’s essential defense needs. President Eisenhower, who served as commander of Allied forces during World War-II stated, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
In evolving warfare, quantitative numbers do not provide an effective measurement of a country’s capabilities. The real metric is how well these capacities are linked and aligned across domains. India is slowly adapting to this reality, as its recent developments in defence are more focused on network-centric operations, such as surveillance, air defence, unmanned systems, electronic warfare and command-and-control architecture.
The 18th BRICS Summit to be held in New Delhi on 12-13 September is a challenging time for the grouping. BRICS used to be mainly about economic cooperation but has now expanded to also include political coordination and global governance. Its expansion has increased its global weight while deepening geopolitical divisions. The Iran-Israel-US clash has brought the cleavages to the fore, challenging India’s capacity to forge consensus among the growing diversity of its members.
