The leaders of the United States and Australia agreed Wednesday to expand defense cooperation with Japan to include unmanned aerial vehicles as Washington continues to bolster relations with its Asia-Pacific allies and partners to maintain its edge in the face of China’s growing military might.
Following a meeting at the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the three-way partnership aims to enhance interoperability and accelerate technology transfer in the rapidly emerging field of “collaborative combat aircraft and autonomy,” — a U.S. Air Force concept referring to autonomous drone operations and manned-unmanned teaming.
No further details were provided, but the announcement comes after the Pentagon unveiled its “Replicator” initiative last month: a radical new strategy focused on fielding thousands of cheap autonomous drones within 18 to 24 months to counter China’s military advantage in personnel and manned equipment.
Drones are becoming increasingly indispensable in modern warfare as they can be used on land, in the air and at sea, particularly in inhospitable or dangerous environments. They are designed to minimize human losses while substantially adding to a force’s capabilities.
Several countries are known to be working on collaborative aerial systems that could enable several drones to not only support and escort a combat aircraft but also to perform their own missions, including reconnaissance, electronic warfare and precision-strike operations.
Australia’s Loyal Wingman project, which was developed jointly by Boeing Defence Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), is one such project. It resulted in the fighter aircraft-sized MQ-28A Ghost Bat autonomous drone, which is currently undergoing testing but is expected to enter RAAF service in the near future.
The cooperation proposal comes after Washington and Tokyo announced last year that they would work together on autonomous systems capabilities that could complement Japan’s next fighter program.
In a joint statement, Biden and Albanese also welcomed the Australian Defence Force’s first full participation in two upcoming large-scale command-post exercises alongside U.S. and Japanese forces: Yama Sakura in December, and Keen Edge in February, both of which will be held in Japan.
Underpinning the growing military engagement between Canberra and Tokyo is the Reciprocal Access Agreement — a type of visiting forces pact signed early last year that provides the legal framework for greater bilateral cooperation. Washington has long encouraged closer ties between its allies as part of its own design to create a “networked” security architecture in the region.
Tom Corben, a defense and foreign policy expert at the United States Studies Center in Sydney, said that the repeated mentions of Japan in the joint statement highlights the shared view that the trilateral relation lies “at the core of a collective regional deterrence strategy in the Indo-Pacific.”
“What the countries are trying to do now is to rightsize the inputs — industrial integration, technology sharing, joint planning, and so on — and to operationalize the outputs — more sophisticated exercises and more regular operations, for example — for that strategy,” said the expert.
Meanwhile, the two leaders also hailed what they called “a new era of U.S.-Australia strategic cooperation,” announcing a series of bilateral initiatives in the fields of space technology, clean energy, supply chain diversification, critical minerals, cyber and climate change.
They also said progress was being made with Australia’s plans to acquire up to eight nuclear-powered submarines under the 2021 AUKUS security pact, which is a key element of Washington’s “integrated deterrence strategy” against China.
They pointed to the graduation of the first Australian military personnel from a U.S. nuclear power school in July and the completion in August of the first AUKUS-related port visit to Australia by a U.S. nuclear-powered sub.
But they also discussed growing concerns about the U.S. Congress holding up efforts to reform the export control provisions required for both the sale of U.S. nuclear submarine technology and the joint development of advanced military systems.
Under the current plans, Canberra is expected to buy three Virginia-class submarines from “as soon as” the early 2030s, with an option to buy two more, and receive its first trilaterally developed submarine — incorporating technology from all three countries — in the early 2040s.
However, a group of lawmakers — mainly Republicans, but also some Democrats — are blocking the necessary legislative changes, arguing that U.S. shipyards, which are already undergoing production pitfalls, might not be able to make enough submarines to meet both U.S. and Australian demands.
To help resolve the issue, the Biden administration has asked Congress to approve $3.4 billion in supplemental funds to boost submarine production and maintenance capacity. Canberra has also pledged to play its part, committing to provide $3 billion on its own to support the U.S. submarine industrial base.
In a joint press briefing at the White House, Biden, who referred to Australia as “an anchor to peace and prosperity,” sought to reassure Albanese, insisting he was “confident that we’re going to be able to get the money for AUKUS because it’s overwhelmingly in our interest.”
“So, the question is not if but when,” he added.
Additional reassurance came from Mara Karlin, the Pentagon’s acting deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, who made the point that the U.S. submarine industrial base “can and will”support AUKUS.
Some experts view this as one of the main takeaways from Albanese’s trip. “In the light of Congressional uncertainty, Albanese needed to come away from the visit with some assurance that the AUKUS submarine pathway would stay on track,” said Malcolm Davis, a defense expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
It remains to be seen, however, whether these efforts will be enough to convince Congress to approve the deal.
The two leaders also agreed Wednesday to continue supporting economic development in the Pacific island nations amid concerns over China’s growing influence in the strategically important area. They said they plan to invest in building maritime infrastructure and laying undersea cables to strengthen internet connectivity in that region.
Albanese’s Washington trip comes only a few days before he embarks on a four-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai from Nov. 4-7, in what will be the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister in seven years.
Some observers say the prime minister will be walking a diplomatic tightrope in Beijing as Canberra seeks to mend fences with China, while drawing ever closer to the U.S. and Japan.
Source : TheJapanTimes
