The United States will increase its rotational military presence in Australia, while the countries move forward with plans to co-develop guided missiles, top officials said following a high-level meeting in the U.S.
U.S Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken held talks with their Australian counterparts, Defense Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, in Annapolis, Maryland on Tuesday.
The 34th Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations covered defense, clean energy, technology and supply chain cooperation, as well as regional security. A joint statement released after the meeting condemned China’s activity in the South China Sea and “unilateral actions to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
In response to what they see as China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, Canberra and Washington have expanded defense cooperation in recent years, notably with the formation of AUKUS in 2021, a security partnership that also includes the U.K. The U.S. is expanding its military presence on the southern continent and helping to upgrade air bases in the Northern Territory, including Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) bases Darwin and Tindal.
The joint statement said surveys were also being conducted for potential upgrades to RAAF bases Curtin and Learmonth in Western Australia, as well as Scherger in Queensland. A U.S. logistics site has also been established in the southern state of Victoria, with another site planned for operation in Queensland.
At a joint news conference, Austin said the U.S would increase the presence of U.S rotational forces in Australia as the countries “deepened” their “force posture cooperation.”
“All this will mean more maritime patrol aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft operating from bases across northern Australia,” he said. “It will also mean more frequent rotational bomber deployments.”
Marles also pointed to the U.S Marine rotational force in Darwin and plans for a U.S rotational submarine presence in Western Australia as part of the AUKUS partnership, saying the U.S presence would add to “peace and stability” in the region.
“American force posture now in Australia involves every domain, land, sea, air, cyber and space,” he said.
Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. formed the tripartite AUKUS alliance to deliver Australia nuclear-powered submarines and increase defense technology sharing.
The countries are also moving ahead with plans to co-develop guided missiles. Australia plans to produce Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles in Australia next year with U.S contractor Lockheed Martin.
They are also planning the co-development of longer range Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) in Australia. For both these efforts, memorandums of understanding are expected to be signed by December. For the PrSM system, a joint country office will be established next year.
“Together, these efforts will help ensure that we have the capability and the capacity that we’ll need for decades to come,” said Austin.
