Marines with 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, a part of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D), fire Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) munitions during Southern Reach, at Bradshaw Field Training Area, Northern Territory, Australia on August 15, 2019.  (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Brandon Salas)

WASHINGTON — The strategic partnership between the United States and Australia is drawing ever closer as the two today plan to announced a series of joint initiatives including new “operating locations” and the formalization of plans to coproduce two key, long-range missile systems.

“Together we have continued to expand our force posture cooperation in unprecedented ways, carrying out more regular rotations to Australia of platforms that advance our ability to operate alongside Australia’s assets at new locations in Australia,” a senior US defense official told reporters ahead of the announcements from the 34th Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN). “On defense industrial cooperation, we’re making significant progress with Australia.”

Specifically the official said Washington and Canberra are working to finalize, by December, two memorandums of understanding: one to “memorialize” the plan to produce Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMRLS) in Australia, first agreed to in 2023, and the other to “conclude an agreement” on Precision Guided Missiles (PrSM) “that covers cooperative production, sustainment and follow-on development activities.” The US and Australia had agreed to jointly work on PrSM as far back as 2021.

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The official said the two sides are also “working collaboratively on cutting edge hypersonic technologies that will provide critical advantage to the warfighter,” adding there has been “significant progress” in design and ground testing under the joint Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) initiative. To push ahead, officials will establish a “joint programs office” in Huntsville, Ala.

In Australia, Canberra has agreed to “new and longer-term operating locations” for “force posture cooperation.”

“We’re also expanding our logistics cooperation by assessing places where we could locate an enduring logistics support area in Queensland, Australia,” the official said.

Beyond bilateral projects, the US and Australia are working together to boost intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in the Indo-Pacific by working more closely with Japan.

The official said the bilateral AUSMIN talks would not focus on the AUKUS security arrangement, as that’s a trilateral agreement with the UK, but US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles would be “checking in” on a few things related to progress on that front.

“We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow really significantly, AUKUS is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that,” Marles said on Monday ahead of AUSMIN. “The marine rotation in Darwin is growing across all the domains. We’re now seeing more activities, which has been really fantastic.”