Australia’s provision of a new patrol boat to the Marshall Islands is the latest demonstration of Canberra’s decades-long commitment to supporting regional maritime security through enhanced capabilities, infrastructure and training.
The Guardian-class vessel RMIS Jelmae was delivered in late January 2026 during a ceremony at the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base HMAS Stirling in Western Australia, the Australian Defence Department stated. It replaces the RMIS Lomor 03, which Australia delivered to the Marshall Islands in 1991.
The Marshall Islands, which is home to about 40,000 people, includes 29 coral atolls and 1,200 islands and islets stretching 1,300 kilometers across the Central Pacific. Although it has a land mass of just 180 square kilometers, it has the world’s 19th-largest exclusive economic zone at 2 million square kilometers, according to the Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank.
The nation’s limited resources constrain its ability to protect its massive maritime zone and vital fisheries against illegal fishing and other transnational crime.
“Through our partnership with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, we are increasing regional maritime security and will be more effective in tackling our shared regional challenges together,” stated Susan Bodell, Australia’s first assistant defense secretary, Pacific division.
Australia has delivered nearly two dozen patrol boats to 16 partner nations under its Pacific Maritime Security Program (PMSP), which succeeded the long-running Pacific Patrol Boat Program.
In addition to Guardian-class vessels, the PMSP includes landing craft and a loan fleet, maintenance and sustainment support, training for crews through the RAN, and embedded naval advisors. Aerial surveillance including uncrewed and satellite capabilities enables intelligence-driven patrols.
Bodell said the PMSP “is empowering protection of the Pacific, by the Pacific – by delivering enduring sovereign capability that is underpinned by through-life sustainment, training and regional coordination.”
The United States also is a major partner in bolstering regional maritime safety and security. In January 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender Juniper visited the Marshall Islands for law enforcement and civic engagements. The Hawaii-based vessel also installed a navigation buoy at Kalalin Pass in the nation’s capital, Majuro, The Marshall Islands Journal newspaper reported.
Under their long-standing Compact of Free Association, the U.S. is granted exclusive access to defense sites in the Marshall Islands, including U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll, home to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. In late 2025, the nations signed an enhanced maritime law enforcement pact. Known as shipriders, the agreements between the U.S. Coast Guard and a dozen Indo-Pacific partners enable military and law enforcement personnel to ride aboard each other’s vessels within their respective waters. They can stop, inspect and detain boats suspected of illegal fishing and other illicit maritime activity.
“This agreement reflects our shared commitment to protecting the vast ocean resources of the Marshall Islands and ensuring the safety and security of our maritime domain,” Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kalani Kaneko said in a news release. “It is another demonstration of the strong and enduring partnership between our two countries under the Compact of Free Association.”
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