Spread of Loitering Munitions in the Indo-Pacific

The changing character of warfare is reshaping military capability requirements across the Indo-Pacific. Among the technologies driving this shift, loitering munitions have emerged as a key military capability, combining intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance with precision-strike capability in a single expendable platform. This paper examines the proliferation of loitering munitions in the Indo-Pacific and analyses its implications for the regional security environment. It situates their growing adoption within the broader evolution of asymmetric warfare before assessing the inventories, procurement strategies and indigenous development programmes of major Indo-Pacific militaries. The paper argues that loitering munitions are evolving from specialised battlefield systems into core components of contemporary military power. Their proliferation is accelerating regional military modernisation, strengthening asymmetric capabilities, reshaping deterrence, force employment and operational planning and creating new challenges for escalation, air defence against low-cost unmanned systems and the governance of emerging military technologies.