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Two buses travelling in opposite directions on the Kampala-Gulu Highway collided head-on while overtaking.
Published On 22 Oct 202522 Oct 2025
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At least 63 people have been killed in a major road accident involving multiple vehicles on the highway between Uganda’s capital Kampala and the northern city of Gulu, police have said.
The collision took place just after midnight [21:00 GMT on Tuesday] and was caused by two buses coming from opposite directions trying to overtake a truck and a car.
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“In the process, both buses met head-on during the overtaking manoeuvres,” the Uganda Police Force said in a statement on X. “Sixty-three people lost lives, all occupants from involved vehicles.”
The police added that “as investigations continue, we strongly urge all motorists to exercise maximum caution on the roads, especially avoiding dangerous and careless overtaking, which remains one of the leading causes of crashes in the country”.
Those travelling in the truck and the car were injured and taken to Kiryandongo Hospital and other nearby medical facilities, the statement said. It did not give further details on the number injured or the extent of their wounds.
The Kampala-Gulu Highway is one of Uganda’s busiest as it connects the capital with the biggest town in northern Uganda.
Peru’s interim president Jose Jeri has declared a 30-day state of emergency in the capital Lima and nearby Callao, saying the decision was to tackle surging crime. Anti-government protests last week left one person dead and over 100 injured.
US President Donald Trump has explained a decision to postpone plans for a meeting in Hungary with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukraine war, telling reporters he doesn’t want a ‘wasted meeting’.
Gaza health crisis will last ‘for generations’, says WHO chief
Gaza is experiencing a health “catastrophe” that will last for “generations to come”, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a massive increase in aid is needed to begin to address the complex needs of the Strip’s population.
Israel has allowed more medical supplies and other aid to cross into Gaza since a ceasefire with Hamas came into effect on 10 October, but Dr Tedros said levels are below those needed to rebuild the territory’s healthcare system.
The agreement has been described by the White House as the first phase of a 20-point peace plan that includes an increase to the amount of aid entering Gaza, and supplies distributed “without interference” from either side.
Dr Tedros told the Today programme he welcomed the ceasefire deal but said the increase in aid that followed has been smaller than expected.
Asked about the situation on the ground, he said Gazans had experienced famine, “overwhelming” injuries, a collapsed healthcare system, and outbreaks of disease fuelled by the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure.
He continued: “On top of that, [there is] restricted access to humanitarian aid. This is a very fatal combination, so that makes [the situation] catastrophic and beyond words.”
Asked about long-term health prospects in Gaza, he added: “If you take the famine and combine it with a mental health problem which we see is rampant, then the situation is a crisis for generations to come.”
Tom Fletcher, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said earlier this week that aid groups are “turning the tide on the starvation crisis” but that “far more” was needed.
On Tuesday, the UN’s World Food Programme said lorries carrying more than 6,700 tonnes of food had entered since 10 October, but that was still considerably below its 2,000-tonnes-a-day target.
Six hundred aid lorries a day need to be arriving in Gaza but the average is between 200 and 300, Dr Tedros said, as he called on Israeli authorities to “de-link” aid and the wider conflict.
Reuters
People were seen collecting boxes containing World Food Programme aid in central Gaza on Tuesday
On Sunday, Israel temporarily halted aid deliveries after it said two Israeli troops were killed in an attack by Hamas gunmen in Gaza. Hamas said at the time it was not aware of the clashes.
The Israeli military responded with a series of air strikes across the territory, killing dozens of Palestinians.
The aid deliveries resumed the following day after heavy international pressure.
Dr Tedros said aid should not be “weaponised” and called on Israel not to impose conditions on its delivery, including over the return of the remains of dead hostages still in Gaza, which has become a key point of contention during the ceasefire.
Hamas has committed to returning the bodies but so far has transferred only 15 of 28, saying it has not been able to retrieve the rest.
Twenty living Israeli hostages were released by Hamas last week in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails.
Dr Tedros told Today: “There should be full access, there should not be any condition, especially after all the living hostages were released, and a good part of the remains are transferred. I did not expect there would be additional restrictions.”
Asked about the role the US should play, Dr Tedros said “since the US has brokered the peace deal it has the responsibility of making sure that all sides are respecting” it.
Israel is currently operating two crossings – Kerem Shalom in the south-east, and Kissufim in central Gaza – but it has continued to face calls from aid groups for all the access routes it controls to be restored.
Dr Tedros said “all available crossings” were needed to get enough aid into Gaza, and called on Israel to allow aid groups previously been denied registration back into the territory, saying: “You can’t have a scaled up response without those who can deliver on the ground.”
Reuters
Major aid groups have called for the number of lorries carrying aid supplies into Gaza to be increased more quickly
He also said supplies intended be used to restore Gaza’s health system have been confiscated at the border because Israeli authorities say they could have a military use.
“If you are going to build a field hospital, you need the canvas and the pillars [for tents],” he continued. “So if the pillars are removed, because of an excuse that they could be dual-use, then you can’t have a tent.”
Thousands of Palestinians are waiting for weekly medical evacuation flights, Dr Tedros said, though none have taken off for two weeks due to religious holidays in Israel. He said 700 people have previously died while waiting for medical evacuation and called on the number of flights to be increased.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.
At least 68,229 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN has previously estimated it will cost $70bn (£52bn) to reconstruct Gaza. Dr Tedros said around 10% of that figure would need to be spent on its badly damaged health system.
He continued: “We have been saying for a long time that peace is the best medicine.
“The ceasefire we have is a very fragile one and some people have died even after the ceasefire because it was broken a couple of times.
“What is very sad is many people were cheering in the streets because they were very happy there was a peace deal. Imagine, [some of] those same people are dead after they were told the war is over.”
Bolivia’s presidential runoff on October 19th 2025, marked a major political shift for the country. For the first time since 2005, no candidate from Evo Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party is on the voting ballot. In the August primary, centrist Rodrigo Paz won 32.2% of the vote versus only 3.2% for the official MAS ticket, while conservative former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga was second with about 27%. With MAS’s candidate trounced, Paz and Quiroga, both market-friendly, right-leaning politicians advanced to the runoff.
This officially put an end to MAS’s two-decade dominance and will establish Bolivia’s first non-MAS government in nearly twenty years. Analysts see this as a turning point, a moment when Bolivia moves away from the leftist model that defined the Morales era.
Legacy of Morales and the “MAS” Era
MAS, founded by President Evo Morales in the early 2000s, reshaped Bolivia’s politics and economy. Morales, who served from 2006 to 2019, was the country’s first indigenous head of state. Under his rule, poverty fell sharply, and millions of bolivians moved up into the middle class.
Critics say the party became overly centralized and failed to diversify the economy before gas revenues fell. Questions over term limits and alleged corruption defined Morales’s later years, culminating in his ouster in 2019 amid disputed elections and unrest. Even after Morales went into exile, MAS remained powerful, with Luis Arce, Morales’s former economy minister, winning the presidency in 2020.
By 2025, MAS no longer had the popularity it once took for granted. Voters cited inflation at a 40-year high and fuel shortages.
The Two Right-Wing Contenders
Rodrigo Paz, a senator and son of a former president, ran as a centrist populist in the Christian Democratic Party. He vowed to maintain social programs for the poor while promoting private-sector-led growth. Paz campaigned on a moderate platform: decentralize government spending, give tax incentives to small businesses, and phase out fuel subsidies gradually.
Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga is a veteran conservative. He served briefly as president in 2001-02 and campaigned on a bold austerity agenda, deep cuts to public spending and wanting to abolish or privatize loss-making state firms. Quiroga pitched himself as a reformer, arguing that the country is broke and pledging dramatic, radical change. In debate, he framed Bolivia’s last 20 years as lost and promised a return to business-friendly policies and property rights.
Shifting Alliances Abroad: From China and Russia to the U.S.
The expected rightward turn will reshape Bolivia’s foreign policy. Under Morales and Arce, Bolivia had aligned itself mostly with China and Russia. Chinese firms had multibillion-dollar lithium contracts, and Russia’s Rosatom planned a lithium plant in return for Bolivian uranium access. The MAS government often distanced Bolivia from Washington.
Now, both Paz and Quiroga pledge the opposite: a return to the U.S. orbit. They argue that better U.S. relations can bring investment, aid and energy deals. The U.S. State Department has already praised the election as a transformative opportunity, with Secretary Marco Rubio saying both candidates want stronger, better relations with the United States.
The U.S. may seize the chance to expand its footprint, as it did recently in Argentina, by offering aid or investment in exchange for political alignment. That would be a dramatic flip, with some observers framing the vote as a pro-market shift and U.S. embrace. Argentina and Bolivia’s swings may reveal the fate of other similar political regimes in Latin America, such as Chile’s and Colombia’s upcoming elections.
Domestic Impact and the Path Ahead
Domestically, the new government will face immediate challenges, like the economy having inflation above 20%, empty reserves, and protests over low growth. Paz and Quiroga both promise stimulus, insisting that fuel and social programs will not vanish overnight. Economists warn the fiscal hole is immense, meaning politically unpopular changes are unavoidable.
Any cutbacks will anger MAS’s former base. The powerful miners’ union COB has already warned it will oppose any threats to the social and economic gains of the 2010s. Indigenous groups and rural voters, whose support lifted MAS to power, may feel betrayed if subsidies and jobs are slashed. Paz and Quiroga will need to show voters they can fix the economy without undoing all of Morales’s legacy.
Both candidates have signaled that Bolivia will de-emphasize its former leftist alignment and turn east to west. For U.S. and European observers, that could perhaps mean more cooperation on trade, investment and regional security. But it also raises questions: will Bolivia’s rich lithium and natural-gas resources be opened more to Western firms and can the country still maintain the social gains of the MAS years under a pro-market agenda?
As Paz himself said, “ideologies don’t put food on the table”. Voters clearly decided they wanted change, but whether that leads to better conditions or new problems for Bolivia will depend on how this new government balances its reforms.
Israel and Hamas have exchanged the remains of more captives, but the Palestinian group says Israel is failing to uphold the terms of the Gaza ceasefire agreement by refusing to reopen the crucial Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
The bodies of two more Israeli captives, one soldier and one civilian, were returned to Israel late on Tuesday, and identified early on Wednesday as those of Aryeh Zalmanovich, 85, and army Master Sergeant Tamir Adar, 38.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had earlier received the bodies in Gaza, in a handover organised by the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
The Israeli military said that Zalmanovich died in captivity in Gaza on November 17, 2023, and that Adar was killed in fighting in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken back to the Palestinian territory.
Hamas has now handed over the bodies of 15 Israeli captives as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel.
An estimated 13 more sets of remains are expected to be returned to Israel, although Hamas has said the widespread devastation in the Palestinian territory and the Israeli military’s continuing control of certain parts of Gaza have slowed the recovery of the bodies.
The Palestinian group also released 20 living captives in one day at the start of the ceasefire.
Earlier on Tuesday, the bodies of 15 Palestinians killed in Israeli detention were returned to Gaza, where they were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex for identification, according to a medical source.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel released some 2,000 living Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons, and has committed to releasing the remains of 360 more deceased Palestinians.
A forensics team that received the bodies of some 45 Palestinians returned by Israel last week said that some arrived still shackled and bearing signs of physical abuse and possible execution.
Ubai Al-Aboudi, the executive director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, said that Palestinians imprisoned by Israel should also be considered to be “hostages”.
“This entire system dehumanises Palestinians,” Al-Aboudi told Al Jazeera from Ramallah, adding, “when we talk about Palestinian prisoners, we are actually talking about hostages”.
Al-Aboudi noted that about 20 percent of the Palestinian population has been arrested or detained by Israel over the decades, and that the situation in Israeli prisons has deteriorated dramatically since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.
“Most of them are held without any due process, without being charged, and just based on military orders by a foreign military occupation,” he said.
Rafah crossing still closed
A delegation of Hamas officials, attending talks with Turkish officials in Qatar on Tuesday, said that the Palestinian group remains committed to the ceasefire deal despite Israel’s “repeated violations”.
Israel is delaying the implementation of the ceasefire by failing to open the Rafah crossing “for the travel of sick and injured people, and its prevention of the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza”, the Hamas officials said in a statement.
Mujahid Muhammad Darwish, head of the Hamas delegation, also highlighted “the inalienable rights of our people to self-determination and their right to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital”.
Turkiye was among the signatories of US President Donald Trump’s document on the Gaza ceasefire deal earlier this month in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh.
The Rafah crossing has remained closed since May 7, 2024, when it was seized by Israeli forces as they invaded the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip’s south, where close to one million people were sheltering at the time.
The United Nations has described the crossing, which connects the Palestinian territory to Egypt, as one of two “arteries” for humanitarian access.
The UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing on May 24, 2024, following an emergency submission from South Africa, but the crossing has remained closed, with only limited access via the adjacent Karem Abu Salem crossing.
Residents of Rafah were only able to return to the destroyed city after a temporary ceasefire began on January 19, 2025, which also saw the Rafah crossing temporarily reopen to allow medical evacuations in February, before Israel issued new forced evacuation orders for Rafah at the end of March.
The crossing has remained closed for humanitarian aid access since May 2024.
Thousands of Palestinians have been freed under a fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel – but many more remain in Israeli prisons. As arrests continue and families wait for answers, what does “freedom” really mean under occupation? And how does detention shape daily life, resistance, and hope in Palestine?
Experts warned N Korea could launch provocative missile tests before or during the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea.
Published On 22 Oct 202522 Oct 2025
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North Korea has fired multiple, short-range ballistic missiles towards waters off its eastern coast, South Korea’s military said, marking its first missile launch in months.
The launch of missiles on Wednesday morning comes a week before South Korea hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will see Chinese President Xi Jinping, United States President Donald Trump, and other world leaders gather in the South Korean city of Gyeongju for talks.
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South Korea’s military said that it “detected several projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles” fired towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan, the official South Korean Yonhap news agency reports.
“Our military has stepped up monitoring in preparation for (the possibility of) additional launches and is maintaining a steadfast readiness posture while sharing relevant information with the US and Japan,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to Yonhap.
North Korea last fired short-range ballistic and cruise missiles towards the East Sea on May 8 and May 22 , meaning the latest launch is the first under South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June, Yonhap said.
Experts had warned that North Korea could launch provocative missile tests before or during the APEC summit to underscore its commitment to being recognised as a nuclear-armed state, the Associated Press news agency reports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this month displayed a new long-range Hwasong-20 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), described as the country’s “most powerful”, during a huge military parade in Pyongyang, with top Chinese, Russian and other leaders in attendance.
The parade, which marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, highlighted Kim’s strengthening diplomatic presence on a regional and global level and his consistent drive to build sophisticated weapons capable of delivering nuclear payloads.
Pyongyang has long rejected international bans on its weapons development, which it says is necessary to protect North Korea from potential attack by its enemies, the US and South Korea.
Trump met the North Korean leader during his first term in office, and said recently that he hopes to meet Kim again, possibly this year.
Pyongyang has said that Kim is open to future talks with Trump, but with the caveat that North Korea will never agree to relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
US President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019 [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]
Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama, who was the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, from a fourteen-year exile.
The Festival of Lights takes place on the darkest night (the first night of the new moon) in the month of Kartik in the Hindu calendar.
Across India streets and temples are decorated with spectacular light displays and colourful garlands.
In their homes, people light small oil lamps called diyas. It is believed that deceased relatives come back to visit their families on Earth during this festival and the lights are a way to guide the spirits home. The sound of firecrackers exploding is common as the noise is said to drive away evil spirits.
Over 70% of all firecrackers used during Diwali come from the town of Sivaski in Tamil Nadu.
Families, friends and business associates exchange gifts and sweets, settle old business deals and are encouraged to rid themselves of hate, anger and jealousy.
The festival is a time for rejoicing and renewal.
Diwali holds significance not only in Hinduism but also in Sikhism who celebrate the release of their sixth Guru (literal translation: teacher) Hargobind. To Sikhs, it is known asBandi Chhor Divas. The Jains celebrate it as the day when Lord Mahaveer, the last Tirthankara, attained Nirvana or Moksha.
We all want hair that looks and feels healthy, whether that means glossy waves, bouncy curls or sleek and smooth strands.
In an industry worth £5.8bn in the UK, there are endless products, trends and TikTok hacks flying around which makes it’s easy to lose sight of the basics.
The truth is, healthy hair isn’t about spending a fortune or following complicated routines, it’s about getting the simple stuff right.
Trichologists Eva Proudman from UK Hair Consultants and Tracey Walker from Hair and Scalp Clinic, bust four common myths about how to look after your hair.
1. Cold water doesn’t make your hair shinier
Getty Images
Ever shivered your way through an icy shower just for the sake of shinier hair?
Well luckily you can stop doing that and enjoy a warm and comfortable wash as Proudman says cold water doesn’t add any extra shine to your hair.
“There’s no need to wash your hair in freezing cold water as it does nothing,” she says. “What’s much more important is how you protect your hair from chemicals, heat and the environment you’re in.
She does add that you don’t want to wash you hair in too hot water though as it can dehydrate your hair and can scald the scalp in the same way hot water scalds our skin.
2. No product can repair damaged hair
Getty Images
If you’re someone who hopes to fix their split ends without a visit to the hairdressers, you’ll be disappointed to know a haircut is the only solution.
Proudman explains a split end is similar to a ladder in tights – there’s simply no way to mend it.
Walker says: “If you imagine a hair is fracturing and if you look at it under the microscope, it almost looks like there’s two or three more prongs to the hair.
“Products on the market act as a kind of glue which puts the hair back together again so it looks better.”
She says these are temporary fixes, and warns not to get lulled into spending a lot of money on products which promise a solution.
Proudman also says claims that cutting your hair can make it grow faster are untrue.
“It’s just not possible to make your hair grow quicker so any product claiming that is lying.”
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3. Your hair won’t self-clean
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You may well have met someone who swears they’ve managed to train their hair to “self-clean” allowing them to wash it infrequently or not at all.
But Proudman says doing this is absolutely not good for your hair. “Your scalp has 180,000 oil glands and it collects dirt and debris if it’s not regularly washed.”
Walker agrees and likens it to the fact you can’t remove an oily or dirty mark from clothes with just water, you need detergent too.
Not washing your hair regularly can cause a smell as well as a worsening of scalp conditions such as dandruff, she says because “leaving the hair to become oilier can let yeast and bacteria build, making itchy scalp conditions worse”.
Proudman recommends washing your hair every other day if your hair is very oily or you use a lot of product in it.
Laura Waters, Professor of Pharmaceutical Analysis at University of Huddersfield, says while those with very oily hair might benefit from stronger cleansing, people with drier hair could consider a sulfate-free shampoo which is more expensive but won’t strip oil out of it.
4. Dry shampoo isn’t a substitute for washing
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Finding time for a full wash, blow-dry and style isn’t always realistic so between work, workouts and social plans, many of us reach for dry shampoo as a quick fix to revive greasy roots and refresh our hair without hopping in the shower.
Proudman says dry shampoo is “absolutely fine”, but that it should be used only once between hair washes.
The problem arises when you use it for multiple days in a row without washing it out.
“The natural oil of the scalp sinks into the shampoo and the yeast will feed on the build up,” Proudman says.
“If you’re not careful you’ll get an itchy and flaky scalp.”
Ultimately her advice is to focus on looking after your scalp in the same way you look after your face – you wouldn’t keep piling makeup onto your skin without removing what’s underneath and washing it first.
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Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The Swedish Armed Forces have finally gotten their hands on their first operational Saab Gripen E multirole fighter. The first of 60 of the new jets marks a significant step in the modernization of the Swedish Air Force, which is reconfiguring its posture to better face off the resurgent threat from Russia.
På plats vid F7 Såtenäs där Försvarsmakten idag tar emot den första av 60 JAS Gripen E. Det är en viktig dag för flygvapnet och det svenska försvaret. Gripen E är ett exempel på svensk teknologisk framkant och är ett modernt stridsflyg som i allt väsentligt är helt nytt. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/Bse70Hb5DX
The first Gripen E for the Swedish Air Force touched down at the airbase of Såtenäs, in south-central Sweden, yesterday. This is the home of F 7, or the Skaraborg Wing, which will be the service’s first operational Gripen E unit. A handover ceremony at Såtenäs included representatives from the Swedish Ministry of Defense, the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV), and Saab.
Mikael Granholm of the FMV, Minister of Defense Pål Jonson, Swedish Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Michael Claesson, Swedish Air Force Chief Jonas Wikman, and Skaraborg Wing Commander Mattias Ottis. Forsvarsmakten
“This is a big day that marks the beginning of a new chapter in Swedish aviation history,” said Skaraborg’s Wing Commander Mattias Ottis. “F 7 Skaraborg Wing is the center of Swedish fighter aircraft development; we are paving the way for the future. We are ready, we are excited, and now we are going for it.”
“This marks an important milestone in the development of the Swedish defense. It is the result of long-term cooperation and close collaboration between the Swedish Armed Forces, FMV, and Swedish industry. Gripen E strengthens our national defense capability to meet future threats together with our allies,” added Michael Claesson, commander-in-chief of the Swedish Armed Forces.
Notably, the Gripen E is already in operational service, in Brazil.
A Brazilian Air Force Gripen E. Saab Linus Svensson @Saab
The Latin American nation was the first export customer for the jet and has also inaugurated a domestic production line, which will build 15 of the 36 aircraft currently contracted to the Brazilian Air Force. Unlike Sweden, Brazil is also receiving the two-seat variant of the jet, the Gripen F. The first Gripen for Brazil was shipped from Sweden to South America by sea, arriving there in September 2020.
Returning to Sweden, the Gripen E is seen very much as a cornerstone of the country’s changing defense policy, which has seen a renewed emphasis on its fighter fleet as the country grapples with a further deterioration in regional security policy including increasing Russian belligerence.
A pair of Swedish Gripen E test jets. Saab
As well as joining NATO, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this new posture has seen Sweden decide to retain its older Gripen C/D fleet for longer, alongside the new-generation Gripen Es.
This marks a notable change for the Swedish Air Force.
After all, when switching from the Cold War-era Saab Viggen to the Gripen, the Swedish Air Force decided to use only one type of fighter aircraft for all tasks. Operating the Gripen E in parallel with the Gripen C/D, beyond a normal transition, reverses this.
A Swedish Air Force Gripen C. Saab SAAB
Despite its similar outward appearance, the Gripen E is regarded as a completely new aircraft type — as you can read about here.
Ultimately, the Gripen E will take over the tasks currently performed by the Gripen C/D, but the two will serve together for “a relatively long period of time,” according to the Swedish Air Force.
In basic mission terms, the Gripen E offers a longer range and can carry a heavier load than its predecessor. The aircraft is slightly larger than the C-model at just under 50 feet and includes a beefed-up fuselage that accommodates approximately 30 percent more fuel. The aircraft also features larger air intakes, the more powerful General Electric F414 engine, and a total of 10 hardpoints.
On those 10 hardpoints, the heavy loads can include up to four of the big Saab RBS 15 anti-ship missiles, up to nine air-to-air missiles, or 16 Small Diameter Bombs, albeit at the expense of external fuel.
A Gripen E carrying four RBS 15 anti-ship missiles. Saab
“It’s a completely new system — built to meet future requirements for survivability, range, sensors, and interoperability. It’s the result of Swedish engineering and innovation with a clear focus on operational effectiveness,” explained Mattias Ottis, commander of the Skaraborg Wing.
Under the skin, the Gripen E is also substantially different.
New features include its sensors, among them an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and an infrared search and track (IRST) system. The communications system is also new, as is the aircraft’s advanced electronic warfare self-protection system.
The Gripen E’s IRST is located ahead of the windscreen. Jamie Hunter
All this reflects the fact that the Gripen E is intended to operate in a different threat environment compared to the Gripen C/D, a fact made clear by the Swedish Air Force:
“The Swedish Armed Forces have needed to find a way to operate in what is known as a ‘contested environment,’ i.e., an area where they do not have control,” the Air Force explains. “In the past, it was possible to take off and land in a controlled environment. Today, as soon as the aircraft takes off, we find ourselves in an uncertain environment, hence the need to develop a new and more capable fighter aircraft system.”
A Swedish Gripen E test jet. Saab
In another reflection of the increasingly contested environment that the Swedish Air Force is expected to be able to fight in, the Gripen E is being tested loaded with an artificial intelligence (AI) agent that can conduct autonomous beyond-visual-range air-to-air combat. You can read more about this initiative here. Suffice it to say, it’s very much focused on enabling a much smaller air arm (the Swedish Air Force) to deal with a potential large-scale Russian aerial attack. In such a scenario, AI could play a critical role in helping a force of Gripens armed with Meteor air-to-air missiles, for example, to prioritize multiple incoming threats and find the best solutions to combat them.
A Gripen E loaded with an artificial intelligence (AI) agent, known as Centaur. Saab SAAB
At the same time, the Gripen E retains some commonality with the Gripen C/D, especially in terms of its flying qualities.
The Swedish Air Force describes the new aircraft as “just as easy to fly and maneuver” as the Gripen C/D, and that pilots trained on the earlier aircraft “will feel right at home in the E.” This is especially important considering that, as mentioned previously, Sweden will not be buying two-seat versions of the new jet, which would ease the training process.
While the first Gripen E may have just been delivered, Sweden is already starting to plan for what might come next.
In a statement regarding the introduction of the new fighter, Swedish Minister of Defense Pål Jonson said: “Parallel to the introduction of Gripen E, studies are underway to prepare for the next generation of fighter aircraft.”
As TWZhas discussed, the FMV recently awarded Saab with a contract, worth around $276 million, for continued conceptual studies for future fighter systems.
A rendering of a concept for a supersonic uncrewed platform in the F-Series, as developed by Saab. SVT screencap via X SVT screencap via X
At this early stage, it’s very much unclear what the Swedish Air Force’s future combat air ‘ecosystem’ will look like and how it will balance crewed and uncrewed assets — or if it will be an all-drone combat fleet.
But with the Gripen E only just entering service, it would seem to make sense that it’s paired in the future with stealthy drones. We have discussed in the past how ‘loyal wingman’ type drones are potentially even more relevant to so-called ‘generation 4.5’ fighters than fifth-generation ones.
Saab and the Swedish government, meanwhile, will hope that the induction of the Gripen E with the Swedish Air Force serves as a springboard for more export orders. After Brazil joined the program as a co-partner, it took a long time for more orders to come in, with the Gripen E/F losing out on more than one occasion to the F-35. More recently, however, the Gripen E has been ordered by Thailand — which already operates the Gripen C/D — and has been selected as Colombia’s next fighter jet.
A Royal Thai Air Force Gripen D and a Saab 340 Erieye radar plane. Saab Peter Liander
The Gripen has also repeatedly been linked with a possible transfer to Ukraine, a topic that was reportedly discussed between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson earlier this month. Sweden’s long-term plan is to have 120 Gripens serving by 2030, with half being E variants. That would leave roughly 37 Gripen C/D models potentially available to Ukraine, but the number is likely somewhat lower due to airframe fatigue and other factors.
The long-term future of Sweden as a developer and producer of crewed combat aircraft is by no means certain. But in the meantime, the start of Gripen F deliveries to the Swedish Air Force ensures that the service remains at the cutting edge as it starts to look forward to the next generation of combat aircraft.
During a recent meeting of Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, on Friday, October 17, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Abdelatty reiterated that “the resolution of the Palestinian question” remains central to the progress of the IMEC connectivity project and strengthening the strategic ties between India and Egypt. His comments captured the essence of the challenge that confronts the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), that grand infrastructure schemes in this region cannot be separated from enduring political conflicts. Abdelatty’s emphasis indicated that IMEC, which was launched with so much enthusiasm at the 2023 G20 Summit hosted by New Delhi, will only move from rhetoric to reality if its architects reconcile geography with geopolitics.
The Strategic Vision: What IMEC proposes
IMEC was announced as a transformative connectivity framework which aims to link India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Europe through maritime, rail, energy, and digital networks. The project promised to reconfigure the trade routes and foster sustainable growth by involving India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Israel, and the EU with the support of the United States and major European economies. It also emerged as a counterpart initiative against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the “IMEC vs BRI” debate is as much about the narrative competition as about logistics. Yet translating that narrative into a functioning framework is a complex process.
IMEC’s blueprint comprises two interconnected legs. An eastern maritime route between India and Gulf ports and a northern corridor of railways across Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel leading into Europe. Furthermore, it envisions plans for electricity grids, a hydrogen pipeline, and digital fibre networks. The idea is to reduce shipping time between India and Europe by nearly 40% and diversify global supply chains away from vulnerable checkpoints such as the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
Barriers to the Vision
The road to the execution of this vision remains riddled with obstacles. IMEC’s future depends on bridging political divides and closing financial gaps. The physical links across the Arabian Peninsula are still incomplete, and key rail segments between Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel exist largely on paper. Different technical standards and varied customs regimes with no unified authority to synchronise investment or implementation make the project susceptible. Moreover, the funding model lacks transparency. Neither a dedicated corpus nor a multilateral mechanism has been finalised, which leaves the corridor vulnerable to delays and competing priorities.
Furthermore, there is uncertainty due to diplomatic and security dynamics. The Israel-Gaza war has frozen Saudi-Israeli normalisation efforts that initially spirited the IMEC. Egypt’s renewed engagement suggests that Cairo intends to shape any connectivity framework that intersects its sphere of influence. Given the role of Egypt in the control of the Suez Canal and its political weight in the Arab World, Cairo’s participation is crucial. Abdelatty’s linkage of IMEC’s viability to progress on the Palestinian question implies that diplomatic legitimacy will precede logistical cooperation. Unless the participants address the regional trust deficit, the corridor politics may remain trapped between ambition and ambiguity.
Divergent Priorities of Participants
Each participant in IMEC has divergent goals. For India, the project aligns with its “Act West” policy and its long-time desire to consolidate middle-power status through connectivity leadership. For the Gulf monarchies, IMEC represents a channel to diversify beyond hydrocarbons and attract investments in technology and management. Europe views it as a hedge against over-dependence on Chinese infrastructure. To reconcile these varied interests, it is required to focus on continuous negotiations and proper planning. Tensions among Gulf states and between regional powers such as Iran and Turkey could further complicate the situation. The overlapping interests may blur the line between cooperation and competition, which will undermine cohesion before the corridor gains momentum.
From India’s viewpoint, IMEC holds immense significance if managed strategically. It will not only strengthen the supply-chain resilience but will also enhance energy security and expand India’s diplomatic footprint in the Middle East. The corridor perfectly aligns with global efforts to provide transparent alternatives to Chinese financing, for instance, the U.S.-led Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. However, this association might expose IMEC to great power rivalry, turning a development initiative into another strategic sport. This might dilute the economic rationale of the corridor.
Egypt and the Latest Turning Point
A new dimension has been added as Egypt re-emerges as a key stakeholder in the project. Cairo’s interests not only stem from geography but also from economic logic. The Suez Canal is the lifeline of the Egyptian economy, so any alternative corridor must complement rather than compete with it. Abdelatty’s emphasis on integrating political stability with economic planning reflects a broader regional lesson that peace and prosperity must progress together. Incorporating Egypt as a central player through port linkages or co-investment in logistics could enhance IMEC’s legitimacy and reliability. Contrary to this, if Egypt gets excluded, it may trigger diplomatic resistance or perceptions of marginalisation.
The most important question in the current context is whether IMEC can survive the cyclical turbulence of the world’s most unstable region. The region where energy markets are unstable and unresolved conflicts fuel the mistrust among participating states. Moreover, the delays in implementation might erode momentum. To demonstrate progress and sustain the confidence of investors, IMEC needs measurable milestones such as pilot projects, customs harmonisation or digital integration. Even partial success, such as improved India-Gulf maritime connectivity or cooperation in renewable energy, could build credibility.
The Way Forward for IMEC
IMEC challenges the prevailing assumptions about how connectivity projects emerge in contested regions on a conceptual note. It suggests that strategic corridors can no longer depend solely on geopolitical alliances. They require inclusive governance, transparent financing, and conflict-sensitive design. Egypt’s diplomatic stance on the palestinian question and IMEC implies that development without justice is unsustainable. For India, the opportunity lies in using its credibility with multiple actors, such as Arab states, Israel, Europe and the U.S. to keep the corridor protected from zero-sum politics. This would present New Delhi not just as a participant but also as a facilitator.
In conclusion, IMEC is both a promise and a puzzle. It incorporates the aspiration for cooperative connectivity but remains hostage to the very divisions it aims to bridge. Abdelatty’s statement in New Delhi, which echoed across regional capitals, was less a warning than a reminder that infrastructure cannot transcend politics and it must be engaged with constructively. The corridor might evolve from a strategic deal into a genuine intercontinental partnership if India and its allies can translate this vision into sustained diplomacy and practical implementation. However, if it fails, IMEC will join the long list of visionary projects that turned out unsuccessful in the Middle East.
Victor Gyokeres ends drought with brace in Arsenal’s 4-0 win against Atletico, while PSG hit seven and Barcelona six.
Arsenal stormed to a third successive Champions League victory by blowing away Atletico Madrid 4-0 thanks to a devastating second-half broadside at the Emirates Stadium.
What had been a compelling clash with little between the sides in the first period on Tuesday became an Arsenal rout, with goals by Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and a brace from Viktor Gyokeres leaving Diego Simeone’s side shell-shocked.
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Shortly after Julian Alvarez hit the crossbar for the visitors, Gabriel broke the deadlock by heading in a Declan Rice free kick in the 57th minute.
Martinelli finished off a sweeping move seven minutes later, and Gyokeres then prodded his first goal of the night via a deflection as Arsenal ran riot, with the Swede ending a nine-game scoring drought for club and country.
Gyokeres then bundled in his second, as Atletico were again unable to deal with a set piece.
Victory extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run to nine games and put them on nine points in the group phase, well on the way to qualifying for the knockout phase.
Atletico have three points and will have to dust themselves down after their six-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an abrupt end.
Holders PSG hit magnificent seven at Leverkusen
Paris Saint-Germain scored seven, Barcelona hit six, and Erling Haaland struck his 24th goal of the season on an action-packed night.
PSV Eindhoven routed Italian champions Napoli 6-2, while Inter Milan had a big win to maintain their own perfect starts in Europe.
It is defending champions PSG that lead the way at the top of the standings after a wild 7-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in a match that saw both teams reduced to 10 men.
Barcelona’s 6-1 win against Olympiakos saw them bounce back from a loss to PSG at the start of the month.
Last season’s finalists Inter beat Union Saint-Gilloise by the same score.
Haaland’s goal helped Manchester City to a 2-0 win at Villarreal.
Fermin Lopez hat-trick and Rashford brace for Barcelona
Fermin Lopez scored a hat-trick and Marcus Rashford hit two goals as Barcelona ran riot.
Barca took full advantage when the Greek champions went down to 10 men after a contentious red card for Santiago Hezze in the second half, scoring four goals to complete the rout.
It was Lopez’s first hat-trick of his career, with Lamine Yamal also on the scoresheet from the penalty spot.
Olympiakos had no answer when Hezze was shown a second yellow card in the 57th minute, despite replays appearing to show he did not make contact with Marc Casado, who was trying to pull him back.
Just three minutes earlier, the visitors had got back into the game at 2-1 after Ayoub El Kaabi’s penalty.
Two clinical finishes from Lopez had given Barcelona a 2-0 half-time lead. Then, with the extra man, the Spanish champions overwhelmed Olympiakos with four goals in 11 minutes – starting with Yamal’s spot kick.
Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, now has four goals in three games in the Champions League this season.
Kazakh team Kairat picked up their first point in European football’s elite club competition with a 0-0 draw against Pafos.
Netanyahu’s office says he will appoint the deputy head of the National Security Council, Gil Reich, as acting head.
Published On 21 Oct 202521 Oct 2025
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Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says he has been fired by Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Israeli prime minister’s office said Gil Reich would be appointed as acting head of the National Security Council (NSC).
“Prime Minister Netanyahu informed me today of his intention to appoint a new head of the National Security Council,” Hanegbi said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “In light of this, my term as national security adviser and head of the National Security Council ends today.”
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Shortly afterwards, the prime minister’s office said in a statement that Netanyahu will appoint deputy head of the National Security Council, Gil Reich, as acting head of the council.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanks Tzachi Hanegbi for his service as head of the National Security Council for the past 3 years, and wishes him great success in his future endeavors and good health,” it added.
Hanegbi’s departure had been widely anticipated amid weeks of speculation in Israel over growing divisions between the two officials over Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israeli media reported there were long-running tensions over Hanegbi’s opposition to a full military takeover of Gaza City and his support for pursuing a partial deal with Hamas.
In his statement, Hanegbi also called for a “thorough investigation” of the failures leading to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, admitting he shares responsibility.
“The terrible failure … must be thoroughly investigated to ensure that the appropriate lessons are learned and to help restore the trust that has been shattered,” he wrote.
Netanyahu’s government has yet to set up a commission to investigate the matter, with Israel’s opposition accusing him of stalling the process.
Former Israeli army chief turned opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot criticised the firing, writing on X that it “is an expression of the continued evasion of responsibility by all Cabinet members and the Prime Minister of the October 7 debacle – in order to replace them with yes-men.”
A veteran Likud politician and longtime Netanyahu ally, Hanegbi was appointed national security adviser in 2023. He has held multiple ministerial roles, including in public security, intelligence, and regional cooperation.
Warning: The following article contains details about suicide which some may find distressing
Cerys Lupton-Jones pauses between two doorways.
One door leads into a side room in the Manchester mental health unit where she’s a patient. The other leads into a toilet.
The 22-year-old had tried to end her life just 20 minutes earlier – but no staff are seen on the CCTV footage from inside the unit.
She hesitates for about 30 seconds, walking backwards and forwards. Then she enters the toilet and shuts the door.
The next time she is seen on the footage, doctors and nurses are fighting to resuscitate her.
Cerys dies five days later, on 18 May 2022.
A coroner has concluded that some of the care Cerys was given at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, was a “shambles”.
Staff were meant to be checking on her every 15 minutes.
But the last recorded observation – at 15:00 – had been falsified, saying she had been seen in a corridor. CCTV shows at that point, Cerys was already in the toilet where she would fatally harm herself.
A staff member who was supposed to be looking after her has now admitted to falsifying these records.
Zak Golombeck, coroner for Manchester, said that if someone had stayed with her after the earlier attempt to take her life, what followed may never have happened. He said neglect was likely to have contributed to her death.
Campaigners are calling for an inquiry into the number of deaths at the mental health trust and believe the services are in crisis.
Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust said it “failed her that day, and we are so very sorry that we did not do more”.
Family handout
Cerys was a patient at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Cerys’s parents, Rebecca Lupton and Dave Jones, describe their daughter as a loving young woman who would do anything for her friends. She was studying to be a nurse and was months away from completing her degree, with a job lined up.
She was autistic and had also struggled with her mental health since her teens.
Her family, who lived miles away in Sussex, say the pandemic and the reduction in community mental health support exacerbated Cerys’s problems.
The inquest was told Cerys had tried to take her life in the days running up to her death, spending time in A&E.
She was then readmitted to Park House and put on one-to-one observations for a short time. Later, she was supposed to be checked by staff every 15 minutes.
The inquest heard how, at about 14:35 on 13 May 2022, Cerys was found in a toilet by Mohammed Rafiq, a health support worker who had been assigned to check on her. Cerys had tried to hang herself.
Rebecca Lupton and Dave Jones describe Cerys as a loving young woman
Mr Rafiq and the duty nurse, Thaiba Talib, intervened.
However, the inquest heard the 15-minute observations were not then increased and staff had no proper conversation with her.
The nurse told the inquest she did not believe Cerys meant to seriously harm herself.
She told the coroner she chose not to increase observations on Cerys because she did not want her to feel punished, as she did not like being under observation.
When asked by the coroner if she should have gone with Cerys to her room after the incident and check she was safe, Ms Talib answered: “In hindsight, yes.”
Damning CCTV from inside the unit was described minute by minute in court.
It showed Cerys going into the ward garden at 14:42. The observation record, which says at 14:45 she was in her bedspace, was described by the coroner as “not accurate”.
At 14:54, Cerys walked into another toilet on the ward and closed the door.
Yet Mr Rafiq told the coroner he remembered seeing Cerys at 14:57. He wrote in the observation notes that he had seen her at 15:00 “along the corridor, looking flat-faced”. He then went on a break. In reality, Cerys was still in the toilet.
The coroner told Mr Rafiq that his recollections were wrong, and that he had “falsified” the observation records. Mr Rafiq responded: “I’m afraid so”.
Mr Rafiq said other staff had shown him how to record observations every 15 minutes, even if he hadn’t done them at that time. “That’s how they did it and that’s how I did it”, he told the court.
A new support worker took over the observations at 15:00. There was no verbal handover and, according to Mr Rafiq’s notes, Cerys had just been seen.
The CCTV shows the new support worker checking on other patients. At 15:15 she looked for Cerys.
She could be seen becoming increasingly desperate as she searched the communal areas and ran along the corridor.
At 15:19, she tried the door to the toilet, using a master key to unlock it. She found Cerys inside and immediately raised the alarm.
By that point, 25 minutes had passed since Cerys went into the toilet. She died in hospital on 18 May, five days later.
The coroner said there was a gross failure by Ms Talib to provide “basic medical attention to a person in a dependent position”.
He also found there was a culture of falsifying records on the ward.
The coroner said it was not clear what Cerys’s intention had been. In a narrative conclusion, he recorded that neglect had contributed to her death.
“Cerys was a wonderful, wonderful young person”, her mother Rebecca Lupton said
“I knew it was bad,” Cerys’s mother Rebecca told the BBC, “but listening to the evidence highlighted quite how poor the care was.”
Her father, Dave, says when Cerys was sectioned and taken to the hospital at the start of 2022, they believed it would keep her safe and help her get better. “In fact, it just made everything worse,” he says. “It was the wrong environment.”
“Cerys was a wonderful, wonderful young person. We feel that she would be here today if she’d been given better care by Manchester Mental Health Trust,” Rebecca said outside court, after the coroner gave his conclusion.
Dave described the disbelief and anger as difficult to put into words. “We need more funding for mental health services, more staff, better training and much better oversight.”
Immy Swithern was a patient at the same time as Cerys. They became close friends. She says they tried to make the best out of a bad situation and would talk all day.
She also claims some staff regularly failed to carry out 15-minute safety checks, so they tried to look out for each other.
“I was there to get better, and I was there to have help with that,” she says. “Instead, I was constantly checking on people. On that ward, I think that is the most scared I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Park House mental health unit has since closed. It was replaced by a new £105.9m hospital in November 2024.
The NHS trust said it had “significantly improved” its provision of care and it was grateful to the coroner for “acknowledging the work that has been done to prevent something of this nature from happening again”.
But campaigners claim mental health services in Manchester are in crisis.
Responding to Tuesday’s inquest verdict, the Communities for Holistic, Accessible and Rights-based Mental Health (CHARM) group, says: “It is devastating to hear of yet another young person losing their life as a result of neglect and poor care.”
The group says it is due to meet Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham this week to call for a statutory inquiry into the deaths and the financial crisis in the city’s mental health services.
In October 2022, five months after Cerys death, an undercover BBC panorama programme exposed bullying and the mistreatment of patients at the medium secure Edenfield centre, which was also run by GMMH.
As a result, an independent review was commissioned by the NHS and published in 2024.
It found a “closed culture” at GMMH. It also raised concerns about the number of deaths by ligature.
In 2022, 19 people took their own lives by hanging on mental health units in the UK, five were GMMH patients, the trust itself said that meant it had 26% of all such deaths in the whole country.
If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support in the UK are available at BBC Action Line.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Singapore today launched the first of its drone motherships, or Multi-Role Combat Vessels (MRCV). The largest and most complex ship in the Republic of Singapore Navy, the Victory is the first of a planned six of these vessels. These will replace the existing Victory class missile corvettes, which entered service in 1989, and they will form the cornerstone of the navy’s fleet modernization effort.
A rendering of the MRCV Victory. RSN
The Victory was launched at ST Engineering’s Benoi shipyard in Singapore, where it was formally christened by Mrs Chan, the wife of the country’s minister for defense, Chan Chun Sing.
Unusually, and somewhat confusingly, as well as the same name, the new warship carries the same pennant number, 88, as the lead ship of the Victory class MCVs.
Mrs Chan formally christened the new ship by breaking a bottle of champagne against the hull. RSN Navy Media 1
Now that the vessel is in the water, it will move to the Gul Yard for further outfitting, integration, and sea trials. It will then be formally commissioned. The six MRCVs are planned to be delivered progressively from 2028 onward.
As a drone mothership, the MRCV is designed to support operations by uncrewed aerial, surface, and underwater systems.
At the same time, the MRCV is built according to a modular principle, so it can be more easily adapted in the future to accommodate other missions.
Mr and Mrs Chan, together with senior defense officials, are briefed on the ship’s capabilities during their tour on board Victory. RSN
The vessel was also built remarkably quickly, with just 12 months between keel laying and launch. This was aided by 3D modelling and digital twinning in the design phase. This meant that the MRCV could be ‘tested’ in a virtual environment and refined before actual construction began, without the need for costly and time-consuming physical prototypes. Additional design input was also provided by Denmark and Sweden, both of which submitted proposals that were fed into the program at an early stage.
This model seen recently at DSTA, with the person for scale, gives you an idea of the vessel’s size. It will be the largest surface combatant to be operated by Singapore. pic.twitter.com/nniOyZl74M
The MRCV has a fully loaded displacement of around 8,300 tons and is 492 feet long. In comparison, the Formidable class frigates displace 3,150 tons and are 376 feet 8 inches long, while the previous Victory class missile corvettes, which the MRCVs will replace, displace just 586 tons and are 203 feet 5 inches long.
Republic of Singapore Navy Victory class corvette RSS Valiant. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Michael Colemanberry/Released Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Colemanberry
Using integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP), which combines diesel engines with electric motors, the MRCV has a top speed in excess of 22 knots. In this IFEP arrangement, the diesel engines generate electricity, which is then used for both propulsion and to power other services and subsystems.
Missile armament includes MBDA Aster B1 NT long-range and VL MICA NG short-/medium-range surface-to-air missiles, which provide very significant air defense coverage, including the ability to engage certain ballistic missile targets. For anti-surface warfare, the boats will be armed with ST Engineering/IAI Blue Spear anti-ship missiles.
Electronics include the Thales SeaFire multifunction active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, Safran PASEO XLR electro-optical/infrared system, and Safran NGDS decoy launchers.
As launched, the Victory notably lacks its mast, this being an integrated item that will be provided by Saab Kockums. Mounting the four AESA antennas for the SeaFire radar and other sensors, the mast will be made from carbon-fiber composite material.
The center section of the hull and superstructure includes the mission bay, with space for eight modular containers. This allows the ship to be quickly configured for a wide range of missions within short periods of time. While the Singaporean Ministry of Defense specifically mentions a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) module, various other combat-related configurations would be possible.
In terms of drone operations, the flight deck at the rear can accommodate multiple uncrewed air vehicles (UAVs) or a single medium-lift helicopter, like the Super Puma. Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and uncrewed underwater vessels (USVs) are handled by a launch and recovery system that includes a side-mounted crane and a ramp at the stern. The stern ramp can also be used to launch and recover (crewed) rigid-hulled inflatable boats.
The exact types of drones to be fielded on the vessels are unclear. Singapore already operates the Maritime Security Unmanned Surface Vessel (MARSEC USV), but is also investing in new systems to supplement or replace these.
A video shows Singaporean MARSEC USVs during an exercise:
Renderings of the MRCV also appear to show it operating Veloce 60 (V60) UAVs, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone manufactured by ST Engineering and already used by the Republic of Singapore Navy for surveillance. Again, additional and more capable UAVs are eventually likely to be fielded aboard the MRCVs.
We spoke to Roy Choo, a defense journalist and TWZ contributor, for his take on the MRCVs:
“The MRCVs highlight Singapore’s drive to develop unmanned systems across all domains as a force multiplier. In the maritime domain alone, the RSN has already operationalized its Maritime Security USVs, which began patrolling the city-state’s busy waterways earlier this year. The RSN is also progressing towards developing a new fleet of USVs and AUVs for mine countermeasure operations from 2027. To complement the four P-8A Poseidon aircraft it recently acquired, Singapore may also consider procuring a long-range maritime surveillance UAS. In the longer term, its S-70B Seahawks — the majority of which are now 20 years old — could potentially be partially or fully replaced by VTOL rotary-wing UAS.”
Using drones of different types, the MRCV will be able to conduct a wider variety of missions over a larger area than a more traditional warship, something that would otherwise require multiple crewed vessels to achieve. The drones will expand the vessel’s reach both in terms of surveillance and potentially also launch strikes.
Even without the force-multiplying effects of the drones, the MRCV is a more capable ship than anything previously operated by the Republic of Singapore Navy. Its operational range of more than 7,000 nautical miles is double that of the service’s Formidable class frigates, currently its main surface combatants. The MRCV also has an endurance of more than 21 days before needing to be refueled or resupplied.
The Republic of Singapore Navy Formidable class frigate RSS Supreme leads the Victory class corvette RSS Valiant, and the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Sampson in the South China Sea. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Michael Colemanberry/Released Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Colemanberry
This performance is enabled by a very small crew, something that is standard for the Republic of Singapore, bearing in mind the country’s small population — at six million, this is smaller than that of the state of Missouri.
High levels of automation mean that each MRCV can be operated by fewer than 100 sailors. Whereas the bridge of a typical Republic of Singapore warship might otherwise be operated by five crew members, in the MRCV, this is reduced to two, with one rather than four crew members required to man the engineering control center.
An official slide from March 2025, presenting Singaporean defense procurement plans.MINDEF
The most important mission for the new MRCVs will be to safeguard the country’s sea lines of communication (SLOC). Singapore is almost uniquely reliant on the maritime trade that crisscrosses these major maritime routes.
“In the past, the role of the navy was perhaps only to defend our near shores,” Minister for Defense Chan said at today’s launch. “But Singapore’s strategic lines of communications extend much further today, and new capabilities are needed to work together as an integrated Singaporean Armed Force to secure and defend these.”
Singapore’s two vital SLOCs comprise one that passes through the heavily disputed South China Sea, and the other through the Strait of Malacca.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea as its national territory and is meanwhile busily expanding its efforts to bolster that position, including the construction of a constellation of man-made island military outposts in the region.
An annotated satellite image showing China’s man-made military outpost in Gaven Reefs, in the Spratly Islands chain, in the South China Sea. U.S. Department of Defense
Singapore doesn’t make any claim itself to any portion of the South China Sea, has generally good relations with Beijing, and has repeatedly called for a resolution to the current disputes through regional and international organizations.
However, it is acutely aware of its economic vulnerability in the face of rising tensions in the South China Sea as China makes increasingly forceful moves to assert its claims in the region.
China is preparing for potential contingencies in the South China Sea through the continued expansion of its anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities in the region, with the construction of man-made islets being one of the most notable expressions of this. Many of these islets already equipped with, or are suitable to accommodate, long-range surface-to-air missiles, shore-based anti-ship defenses, and even H-6 bombers that would present a significant challenge to any potential opponent in a crisis.
At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army Navy is in the midst of unprecedented growth and modernization and is introducing increasingly capable surface ships and submarines, which are now ranging further afield.
Singapore’s MRCVs, with their long endurance extended further by their organic drone capabilities, will be highly relevant in the context.
The capabilities of the new vessels will also come into play in littoral areas closer to home, in particular the Malacca Strait, which could easily become a chokepoint in any wider regional crisis.
More broadly, six new MRCVs are part of a process of overhauling Singapore’s maritime capabilities.
The ongoing upgrade of Singapore’s naval capabilities also includes an upgrade of the Formidable class frigates and two additional Type 218SG submarines in addition to the previous four. Earlier this year, Singapore confirmed its selection of the Boeing P-8A Poseidon as its next maritime patrol aircraft, which will also provide a significant capability boost.
Chan also described the future challenges in securing these SLOCs as being more multifaceted, more difficult, and more dangerous, while rapidly evolving threats mean that it’s vital that the MRCVs can be updated accordingly, via their modular design.
“No ship will be able to anticipate … the operational needs for the next 30 years,” Chan said. “What we need is a ship that can keep evolving with our operational requirements.”
The speed with which Singapore is pursuing its Multi-Role Combat Vessel program underlines the high priority assigned to it. While navies around the world are increasingly looking at harnessing the capabilities offered by drones, Singapore’s drone motherships are very much a signal of intent as it continues to upgrade its navy to better meet potential new threats.
After the U.S.–Russia summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest this October, diplomatic attention swiftly shifted eastward to a region where Trump once scripted some of his most dramatic foreign policy moments. In Washington, Seoul, and even Pyongyang, speculation is mounting about the possible revival of a U.S.–North Korea summit.
Although there has been no official confirmation, the idea of a US-North Korea summit being brought back to the table reflects a notable shift in the diplomatic direction of the Trump 2.0 administration. After making initial strides in Gaza and Ukraine, Washington appears to be shifting its pivot to Northeast Asia, a region that was a symbol of Trump’s diplomatic breakthrough in his first term in 2018.
Trump’s diplomatic instinct
Diplomacy under Trump has always been intensely personal. His style relies less on institutions or multilateral mechanisms and more on leader-to-leader engagement, what some in Washington describe as “summit diplomacy.”
For Trump, a renewed meeting with Kim Jong Un could serve two political purposes. First, it would remind the world that it is Trump, not Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin, who remains at the center of managing the world’s flashpoints. Second, it would demonstrate his unique ability to “talk to the untouchables,” those seen as beyond the reach of traditional diplomacy.
Trump doesn’t necessarily need an agreement to declare victory. What he needs is a story, one that projects confidence, leadership, and America’s capacity to command global attention. The Korean Peninsula remains the perfect stage for that story to unfold.
America’s strategic calculus
Beyond the spectacle, Washington’s calculus is deeply strategic. Trump’s contemplation of reopening dialogue with Kim is less about denuclearization per se and more about repositioning U.S. influence within two intersecting triangles of power: U.S.–China–Russia and U.S.–Japan–South Korea.
By reaching out directly to Kim, Trump could dilute the dual leverage that Moscow and Beijing currently exert over Pyongyang. Both powers have increasingly treated North Korea as a tactical card in their broader geopolitical standoff with the United States. A Trump–Kim channel could, at least temporarily, limit that dependency, allowing Washington to reassert itself as an independent broker on the Peninsula.
At the same time, reviving engagement with Pyongyang could help reboot the stalled trilateral coordination between Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul. For the U.S., this is not only about deterring the North but also about reaffirming its leadership at a time when East Asia’s security architecture is under strain from renewed great-power rivalry.
Pyongyang’s position: bargaining from strength
From Pyongyang’s perspective, the motivation to reopen a “high-level dialogue” is equally clear. Negotiating with Washington offers a path, however narrow, toward easing economic isolation or securing limited political concessions.
A statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry in October 2025 captured this tone of calibrated openness. “There is no reason to avoid dialogue with the United States, as long as it proceeds with mutual respect.” Behind this carefully crafted language lies a familiar tactic: engage only when leverage is high.
Unlike in 2019, Pyongyang is no longer fully isolated. Its deepening military cooperation with Russia, particularly since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, has yielded tangible benefits, from battlefield experience to access to advanced military technology. Meanwhile, China continues to view North Korea as an indispensable strategic buffer in its rivalry with the United States.
Most importantly, North Korea’s nuclear deterrence capability has grown substantially. The October 11 military parade unveiled the new Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, symbolizing both technological progress and political confidence. The reactivation of the Yongbyon nuclear complex further signals that Pyongyang now approaches negotiations not from weakness, but from perceived strength.
As Pyongyang frames these moves as “necessary deterrence measures,” they also function as a form of crisis manufacturing, a deliberate escalation designed to increase bargaining value. For Trump, whose instincts favor transactional, hard-nosed diplomacy, this is a game he believes he can play and win.
Yet, the road to a new U.S.–North Korea summit remains fraught with risks. Washington harbors no illusion about the prospects of full denuclearization, while Pyongyang remains unwilling to trade its strategic assets for what it sees as reversible or symbolic commitments.
The question for Trump 2.0 is no longer whether to meet or not to meet Kim Jong Un, but rather, why meet, and what follows afterward?
If Trump manages to sustain dialogue with both Putin and Kim, he could reposition the United States as a balancer in an international order increasingly defined by overlapping rivalries rather than clear blocs. But if his efforts falter, Washington risks ceding ground to Moscow and Beijing, both of which are expanding their influence through direct engagement with Pyongyang.
A new kind of summit
If another Trump–Kim summit materializes in the coming months, it will not be a replay of Singapore 2018 or Hanoi 2019. This time, the performance will likely be more pragmatic, less idealistic, and perhaps even more calculated. Both leaders now understand the limits of what diplomacy can achieve and also the power of what a meeting alone can symbolize.
In a region where every gesture carries strategic weight, even the act of “showing up” becomes a message in itself. For Trump, that message would be simple but powerful: that the U.S. still holds the initiative, not through coercion, but through presence.
And for Kim Jong Un, it would reaffirm that Pyongyang, once again, cannot be ignored.
Whether or not the summit happens, Trump’s renewed focus on the Korean Peninsula reveals something deeper about his worldview. In an era where global power is contested on multiple fronts, symbolic diplomacy—the art of turning visibility into leverage—has become a strategic tool in its own right.
The question is not whether Trump and Kim can achieve a breakthrough. It is whether both can once again use each other to tell the stories they need: one of restored American dominance and one of North Korean resilience.
Either way, the stage is set. The spotlight, once more, is on the Peninsula.
