On August 6, 2024, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and their Australian counterparts, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles and Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, met in Annapolis, Maryland, for the 34th Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).
The principals reaffirmed that the Unbreakable Alliance between the United States and Australia is delivering on a partnership of strategic interest rooted in a common determination to preserve stability, prosperity, and peace in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. With historic momentum across the alliance, the United States and Australia deepened their resolve and steadfast commitment to advancing key lines of shared effort.
Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation
Building on the momentum to operationalize the Alliance, the United States and Australia advanced key priorities across an ambitious range of force posture cooperation efforts, including by:
- Reaffirming their commitment to deliver on the ambitious trajectory of Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation across land, maritime, air, and space domains, as well as the Combined Logistics, Sustainment, and Maintenance Enterprise—enabling both countries to respond more quickly and effectively in the region.
- Continuing to progress infrastructure investments at key Australian bases in the north, including RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal.
- Adding new locations for force posture cooperation, including RAAF Base Learmonth, as well as expanding ongoing infrastructure work at RAAF Bases Scherger and Curtin.
- Welcoming Australia's planned infrastructure upgrades at Cocos (Keeling) Island.
- Completing a proof of principle prepositioning of U.S. Army equipment and materiel in Australia at Bandiana and expanding this work to establish Bandiana as a longer-term location.
- Assessing options for establishing an enduring Logistics Support Area in Queensland, designed to enhance interoperability and accelerate the alliance's ability to respond to regional crises.
- Expanding the duration of regular rotations of U.S. Army watercraft to Australia, in order to increase interoperability and enable regional engagement.
- Continuing to conduct more frequent rotational deployments to Australia across air, land, and maritime domains, including frequent rotations of bombers, fighter aircraft, and Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft, building on previous rotations at RAAF Bases Amberley, Darwin, and Tindal.
- Committing to working with Japan to expand and enhance its participation in force posture cooperation exercises, including with the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin.
Advanced Capabilities and Defense Industrial Base Cooperation
The United States and Australia announced significant progress on key priorities to strengthen advanced capabilities and the resilience of their respective defense industrial bases, and the principals identified areas to further expand technological and industrial integration through cooperative activities, including by:
- Committing to institutionalize U.S. cooperation with Australia's Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise by establishing a multi-service roadmap for expanded cooperative development, anchored on the co-production of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) by 2025, including by:
- Finalizing, by December 2024, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Co-Assembly for GMLRS, with follow on mechanisms for co-production in support of Australia's intent to produce viable volumes of GMLRS for global consumption.
- Finalizing, by December 2024, an MOU on cooperative Production, Sustainment, and Follow-on Development of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), along with the establishment of a Joint Programs Office in 2025.
- Acknowledging GWEO as a unique opportunity for co-production and co-sustainment cooperation on critical long-range fires and their component supply chains, as Australia establishes its sovereign solid rocket motor production capability.
- Welcoming progress on the development of an air-launched hypersonic weapon under the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) and supporting the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) flight test program.
- Committing to develop a strategic roadmap on concrete cooperative activities for Integrated Air and Missile Defense, acknowledging the recent completion of a Statement of Intent.
Regional Security Integration
The United States and Australia advanced important initiatives to strengthen their mutual alliances, partnerships, and trilateral and multilateral security arrangements in support of a global order based on international law, including by:
- Expanding Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance cooperation by fostering greater trilateral activities in the Indo-Pacific region between the United States, Australia, and Japan.
- Affirming a shared ambition to increase maritime domain awareness collaboration with regional partners, including India, Japan, and the Philippines.
- Reiterating their commitment to cooperation with the Philippines, including through regular Maritime Cooperative Activities in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and capacity-building efforts.
- Highlighting the deployment of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin to Papua New Guinea in 2024.
- Affirming their commitment to integrate new capabilities and test new operating assumptions during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2025, including through amphibious training activities at Shoalwater Bay. Seventeen nations have been invited to next year's exercise, which will be conducted across the breadth of Australia.