US, Australia pledge to ‘rapid implementation’ of defense cooperation | Today’s news
(Bloomberg) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Australian counterpart agreed Wednesday on the need to “expedite” defense cooperation, including a stronger force posture, amid growing Chinese military power in the region.
In a meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on the sidelines of a regional defense summit in the Philippines, the two sides agreed to increase investment in Australian air bases and strengthen joint logistics capacity, a US statement said.
The two leaders “agreed on the need to urgently initiate force posture cooperation,” it said, adding that they also discussed “opportunities to better coordinate US and Australian approaches to regional deterrence and promote common sense strategies to maintain” a favorable balance of power in the Pacific.
The term “position of force” refers to the deployment of US military assets, including rotational assets at naval installations in Western Australia and at a naval base in the Northern Territory. While the US operates joint communications and surveillance facilities in Australia, there are no permanent bases and US forces operate out of shared Australian defense infrastructure.
As part of the AUKUS plan to cooperate on the development of nuclear-powered submarines, the two countries plan to rotate US submarines to a naval base near Perth from late 2027. As part of this, a US submarine recently arrived in Australia to undergo maintenance, with the two nations using the visit to train Australians in repairing US submarines.
Hegseth also met with his Japanese counterpart earlier on Wednesday and is expected to meet with Southeast Asian defense ministers later in the day.
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