HeyJaredThe Shugart Update
Analysis of trends & data points in the U.S.-China military competition.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 13
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Sep 10, 2026
Latest issues
The Daily-Ish Update (opens the original)
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Coverage: last 24 hoursMilitary activityChina opens a joint military support and aviation-training facility in Laos. The China–Laos Joint Support and Training Center and China–Laos Friendship Aviation Academy began operating at Ban Keun airport on 29 September. China’s defense ministry said the jointly operated institutions would train Lao air force pilots. Satellite imagery shows a paved runway and new buildings at the site, approximately 50 kilometers north of Vientiane, replacing a much more
The Daily-Ish Update (opens the original)
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Coverage: last 24 hoursMilitary activityChina showcases WZ-7 operations at Scarborough Shoal and claims expanded control. New reporting on the 27 September exercises identifies the first public display of a WZ-7 Soaring Dragon drone operating at Scarborough Shoal, alongside a Wing Loong II drone and KJ-500H airborne early-warning aircraft. Released imagery also showed Type 054A frigates, a Type 056A corvette and a Type 908 replenishment ship. Chinese state media claimed that Beijing’s “control”
The Daily-Ish Update (opens the original)
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Coverage: last 72 hoursMilitary activityChina conducts military and coast guard drills around Scarborough Shoal. On 27 September, the PLA Southern Theater Command announced a joint naval-air exercise around Scarborough Shoal, including reconnaissance, early warning, rapid maneuver, and joint search-and-rescue training. The China Coast Guard separately announced boarding, inspection, interdiction, and forced-towing drills nearby. The activities followed the Philippines–Japan-led ADMM-Plus maritim
The Daily-Ish Update (opens the original)
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Coverage: last 24 hoursMilitary activity:Chinese Coast Guard and PLA Navy vessels interfered with a Philippine rotation-and-resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal on September 24, preventing the mission from being completed. The Philippine National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said Chinese vessels hindered ships carrying personnel and essential supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre and conducted maneuvers that put Philippine personnel at risk. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela
The Daily-Ish Update (opens the original)
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Coverage: last 24 hoursThe Shugart Update — 24 September 2026Reporting window: 48 hours through the morning of 24 September 2026.Military activity:A People’s Liberation Army Navy warship shadowed an eight-country ADMM-Plus naval formation operating near Scarborough Shoal as the exercise conducted its sea phase in the West Philippine Sea.Eleven vessels from the Philippines, United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, India, Singapore and Brunei operated in an exercise box approximately 45 nauti
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