An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III ICBM launches during an operation test on February 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (US Space Force)
A weapon is mounted on the Lehit ground robotic system, developed by specialists of the International Legion under the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, during a demonstration in Ukraine on December 9, 2025. (Getty Images)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sits beside Iranian officials and other leaders during his swearing-in ceremony in Tehran on July 30, 2024. On the first row, second to the left, is Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. (Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting in the Oval Office on August 18, 2025. (Mandel Ngan via Getty Images)
A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
Ukrainian military personnel control the unmanned ground vehicle platform Rys Pro equipped with a remote-controlled machine-gun turret during training on April 18, 2025, in an unspecified area of Ukraine. (Serhii Mykhalchuk via Getty Images)
A service member working with Command Task Force 66 unloads a Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft into the Port of Uskta during exercise Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS 25) on June 8, 2025. (US Navy photo)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, President Vladimir Putin meets with Moscow-installed head of the Donetsk region in Russian-controlled Ukraine, Denis Pushilin (not pictured), at the Kremlin in Moscow on August 4, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel via Getty Images)
Leaders of nine nations applaud the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords at the Elysee Palace in Paris on December 14, 1995. (Peter Turnley via Getty Images)
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