US, Australia, Japan deepen defense cooperation

DARWIN, Australia—Japan, Australia, and the United States are strengthening their three-way defense cooperation—vowing, among other things, to consult with each other in military planning and regional crises, defense leaders from the countries said Sunday. 

The leaders also discussed prospects for increased cooperation under AUKUS and their views on the incoming Trump administration.

The increased coordination will take place under a new structure called the Trilateral Defense Consultations, Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy prime minister and minister for defence, told reporters at the naval base here.

“It provides a substance and a structure to the trilateral meeting of our three countries which has not been there before, and it represents the ambition that all of us have about taking this architecture of our three countries even further,” Marles said.

Marles spoke after an annual meeting with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts—Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani—that produced a slew of other announcements, including:

• Japan’s new Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade will join annual U.S.-Australian exercises held by the Marine Rotational Force–Darwin, starting with Talisman Sabre 2025 and building toward the countries’ first air- and missile-defense live-fire training event in the exercise’s 2027 edition.
• Australian forces will join U.S.-Japanese exercises, beginning with Orient Shield 2025, and increase its participation in others, including Yama Sakura, Keen Edge, and Keen Sword.
• The three nations will look for ways to increase Australian participation in the U.S.-Japanese Bilateral Information Analysis Cell. 

India, too, got a nod: Marles said the three nations will deepen their cooperation with the Indian military in the realm of maritime domain awareness, building on a “maritime patrol aircraft collaboration activity with India” on the sidelines of September’s Exercise Kakadu. 

AUKUS

Just as in Austin’s trip to London in September, local press wanted to know whether U.S. shipbuilding troubles would delay or boost the price tag of the Virginia-class attack submarines promised to Australia under AUKUS Pillar I.

Replied Austin: “I'm confident that we're going to be able to provide the capabilities that we set out to provide. Now, we recognize that there are challenges in the industrial base, and we're doing things to address those challenges. We're investing more so that, you know, we can speed up the production to meet our objectives going forward. And you know, I've met with the leadership of the companies that are producing submarines, and I'm encouraged by what they're doing and their focus to get this done, and they will get it done.”  

And Marles: “We do have a sense of confidence about the fulfillment of the timelines that we articulated when we announced the optimal pathway back in March of last year.”

As for AUKUS Pillar II, the effort to jointly develop various “advanced military capabilities,” the leaders said they “look forward to continued consultations with Japan,” whose first contribution is expected to be in maritime autonomous systems. In October, Japanese officials attended Exercise Autonomous Warrior as observers.

Trump, incoming

Reporters also asked whether AUKUS and the plans for increased cooperation could be expected to survive the incoming administration of Donald Trump, who has unexpectedly shut down multinational exercises and often expressed contempt for U.S. alliances.

“I think the answer to that is yes,” Marles said. “This time last year, legislation passed the U.S. Congress—with the support of Democrats, Republicans, Trump Republicans—which saw the legislative underpinning of the sale of Virginia-class submarines to Australia...

“The basis of the alliance is shared values, but it's a shared strategic objective and shared strategic advantage. And AUKUS is in the strategic interest of both the United States and Australia, and that's the fundamental here, as it is for Britain. And so we are seeing AUKUS survive change of governments in Australia, in United Kingdom—and it will happen in America as well.”

He added, “Everything that I've heard about Pete Hegseth since his name became public, in the context of becoming the secretary of defense, has been positive, and I approach the prospect of getting to know Pete Hegseth and working with him with enormous optimism.”

And Austin: “It's the prerogative of the president-elect to nominate whoever he deems appropriate to serve on his cabinet. As far as DOD is concerned, we remain focused on a smooth and effective transition to the next administration...I would just say that this is a large enterprise, DOD, and it often involves making life-and-death decisions on a near-daily basis, and accounting for and taking care of some 2.7 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, guardians and really remaining focused on protecting the country and protecting our interests around the world.”