Indo-Pacific Allies, Partners and like-minded militaries are cooperating at a higher and deeper level than ever before, as demonstrated by the increased strength of their strategic land power network, according to international Army leaders at the largest-ever Land Forces Pacific conference (LANPAC), hosted by the Association of the United States Army in Honolulu, Hawaii, in mid-May 2024.
“We, together, as a group, through our unity and collective commitment to each other, we must achieve a lasting peace. And we’ll do so by mobilizing the collective capabilities and strengths of our strategic land power network,” U.S. Army Pacific Commander Gen. Charles Flynn said during his keynote address at the annual meeting.
“Our network denies incremental, insidious and irresponsible behaviors of authoritarian regimes,” Flynn said. “Our network protects our people, defends our lands and assures our freedoms because our network is about each other’s sovereignty. Our network creates that legitimacy to avert disruption and prevent opportunism by nefarious actors.”
Aligned militaries across the network are increasing the quality and frequency of joint, multilateral and multidomain operations to enhance interoperability and integrated deterrence.
“The wars of the future are not going to be fought in one or two domains and are not going to be fought by one or two services. They’re going to be fought across multiple domains and they will require a joint force to prevail on the battlefield, and it will require a combined joint force,” Australian Chief of Army Lt. Gen. Simon Stuart said at LANPAC.
The expanding scale and multilateralism of military exercises such as Cobra Gold, Balikatan, Garuda Shield, Talisman Sabre and Yama Sakura continue to strengthen the collective capacity of multidomain operations, cross-domain solutions, and the power of Allies and Partners working together, Stuart told FORUM.
More than 2,000 defense and security professionals, including delegates from 30 armies and 13 Army chiefs, participated in LANPAC 2024.
“This is something very important for us to have all of the Indo-Pacific nations with a shared sense of value together here, and then having this kind of discussion together is of great [significance] and this is an effective thing,” Gen. Yasunori Morishita, Chief of Staff Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, said through an interpreter during a panel discussion with defense chiefs from Australia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the U.S.
“Stepping forward from today’s panel discussion, I really hope we can expand mutual exchange and coordination between our four countries through a much closer and tighter strategic land power network,” ROK Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su said through an interpreter.
Park said “close cooperation with like-minded countries is essential” for security on the Korean Peninsula and for peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific.
“For any potential aggressor, it confers a much higher risk to any aggressive action if there are well-prepared, well-rehearsed, well-integrated teammates and partners who are used to working together in that terrain in that part of the geography,” Stuart said during the discussion. “That really sets the bar very high and means that you really want to think about the additional risk you are taking on if you want to escalate and if you want to be an aggressor.”
Potential adversaries and aggressors, such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), don’t know how to counter the growth of relationships, partnerships and alliances among like-minded nations across the region, experts said at LANPAC.
“Building these partnerships that we’re building in the Indo-Pacific is incredibly valuable,” said Joshua Arostegui, chair of the China Landpower Studies Center at the U.S. Army War College. “They [the PRC] look at that land power issue as something they haven’t quite resolved yet. … Understanding how to interact with partners to the U.S. is a dilemma for them, and I think it’s working. Obviously, war has not broken out.”
