Southeast Asia Ferociously Upgrades Military Arsenal in 2026: Are We At War?

Nostradamus must be a happy man today as his prophecy and predictions for the 21st century is fast becoming an unthinkable reality. As his prophecies suggest, Utter chaos and destruction would be the new world order. While the ‘new world’ order suggests growing political uncertainty in the region, the accelerating pace and scale of major military purchases is a matter of growing concern. Are we at war?

What is more concerning is that theUnited States backed alliances and treaties that somehow helped preserve stability in theAsia-Pacific region since sometime, is fading away into oblivion. At a time when territorial disputes are gathering momentum and the ‘swords’ are still within the ‘scabbards,’ the sharpening geo-political tensions in the region are no doubt escalating and is indeed a matter of concern for all.

Since decades, the Southeast Asian countries posed a relative laid-back attitude in terms of seriously upgrading their military arsenal. The most credible reasons include the absence of a credible external threat, financial constraints, lack of political will, and the presence of U.S. assurance and its secured umbrella.

But with the turn of the quarter of the century, all this situation is shifting, and several Southeast Asian countries are now in a rat-race in pacing up their military upgrades and modernisation of the defence systems.

PHILIPPINES

Interestingly, the Philippines has been one of the biggest players in this game of upgrading arsenal. In Fact, Manila has a defence treaty with the US that until now provided it the reduced urgency to upgrade its military. But with escalating tensions with Beijing, Philippines is at the forefront of a territorial dispute.

According to internationaldefence reports 2025, apart from possessing BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India, Manila is seriously upgrading its navy, with several major surface combatants ordered fromSouth Korea in recent years. In a period of one year, between 2020 and 2021, naval forces of Philippines commissioned two Jose Rizal-class frigates built by the Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea.

In 2025, the Navy was delivered a pair of larger and state-of-art Miguel Malvar-class frigates, also from Hyundai Heavy Industries. Immediately after the deliveries, an additional order for two more were placed. The company is also currently constructing six offshore patrol vessels for the Philippines, the first of which is scheduled for delivery this year in 2026.

In a nutshell, Manila has contracted South Korea to deliver 12 ships at a whopping $1.5 billion and is believed to seriously upgrade the Philippines’ naval capabilities. Also, a different deal with France’s OCEA, worth around $450 million, is in place to deliver 40 patrol boats for the Philippine Coast Guard.

The Philippines military is also eyeing for a pair of submarines and fighter jets to upgrade its air force soon. Interestingly it's presumed that South Korean and European arms manufacturers are definitely in the race.

INDONESIA

In a major military upgrade, a pair of Merah Putih frigates based on the Arrowhead 140 design was launched by Indonesia. It has beee manufactured by the state-owned shipyard PT PAL under license from the U.K.’s Babcock.

The company also has plans to manufacture two Scorpene submarines for the Naval Group, which is a major pointer to the fact that Indonesia is significantly expanding the defence force. It may be mentioned that, the first batch of 42 Rafale fighter jets will start arriving in Indonesia this year. It has been ordered from France’s Dassault and is a part of an $8 billion deal with the French.

Two warships were also recently purchased by Indonesia from Italy’s Fincantieri at a staggering price tag of over $1 billion, and the Ministry of Defense has been rather publicly signalling openness to buying Chinese and Turkish fighter jets, drones and other combat systems. An as we read this article, an arrangement with South Korea to co-develop the KF-21 fighter jet is reaching some type of conclusion.

MALAYSIA

Things are also pretty heated up in Malaysia as the country’s long-halted effort to manufacture five (which originally was six in number) Littoral Combat Ships is finally at the threshold of coming to reality after several years of delay.

It may be mentioned that, in the year 2023, Malaysia had also placed a significant order of 18 FA-50 fighter jets from Korea Aerospace Industries at a staggering cost of just under $1 billion. Thailand is expecting its first batch of fighters to be delivered this year.

Following a series of armed conflict with Cambodia, Thailand also recently signed a deal to procure four Gripen fighter jets from Saab.

While this is just a small brief of some of the significant developments of the militaries of various SoutheastAsian Countries, but altogether it knits a clear picture that how everyone in the Indo-Pacific region is subtly gearing up for war, if the situation arises.

Though South Korea has been primarily the sole beneficiary of these geo-political developments and the European arms manufacturers are also swelling up their books, newer players like Turkey, India and China are also eying aggressively for a stronghold in the Southeast Asian arms market. It now remains to be seen that, with the arsenals decked up and territorial strifes escalating, will Nostradamus’ prophecy of ‘total annihilation’ continue to come true with each progressing day.

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