Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defence | Official website
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 for Defence Richard Marles and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, met in Annapolis, Maryland, for the 34th Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).
The principals reaffirmed that the 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. The United States and Australia deepened their resolve and commitment to advancing key lines of shared effort.
**Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation**
Building on momentum to operationalize the Alliance, the United States and Australia advanced key priorities across an ambitious range of force posture cooperation efforts:
- Reaffirming their commitment to Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation across land, maritime, air, and space domains.
- Continuing infrastructure investments at key Australian bases in the north.
- Progressing upgrades at key Australian bases.
- Welcoming Australia's planned infrastructure upgrades at Cocos (Keeling) Island.
- Completing a proof of principle prepositioning of U.S. Army equipment in Australia.
- Assessing options for establishing an enduring Logistics Support Area in Queensland.
- Expanding regular rotations of U.S. Army watercraft to Australia.
- Conducting more frequent rotational deployments to Australia across various domains.
- Working with Japan to expand its participation in force posture cooperation exercises.
**Advanced Capabilities and Defense Industrial Base Cooperation**
The United States and Australia announced significant progress on strengthening advanced capabilities and defense industrial base resilience:
- 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 by 2025.
- Finalizing MOUs on Co-Assembly for GMLRS by December 2024.
- Finalizing an MOU on cooperative Production, Sustainment, and Follow-on Development of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
- Acknowledging GWEO as a unique opportunity for co-production on critical long-range fires.
Additionally:
- Welcoming progress on developing an air-launched hypersonic weapon under SCIFiRE.
- Committing to develop a strategic roadmap for Integrated Air and Missile Defense.
**Regional Security Integration**
The United States and Australia advanced initiatives to strengthen mutual alliances:
- Expanding Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance cooperation with Japan.
- Increasing maritime domain awareness collaboration with regional partners including India, Japan, and the Philippines.
- Reiterating commitment to cooperation with the Philippines through regular Maritime Cooperative Activities.
- Highlighting the deployment of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin to Papua New Guinea in 2024.
- Affirming commitment to integrate new capabilities during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2025.
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News Release: Joint Statement on Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) 2024
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