The agreement was signed on the USS America while it was docked in Brisbane, Australia, according to Breaking Defence. The new plan allows naval ships from all three nations to support each other more easily by sharing resources like fuel and missiles.
Vice Admiral Jeff Jablon from the US Navy, Rear Admiral Naoya Hoshi from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, and Commodore Catherine Rhodes from the Royal Australian Navy signed the deal together.
“We have robust logistics partnerships with Japan and Australia to ensure we can provide the right material and services at the right place, at the right time to mutually support our maritime forces, from day-to-day training during peacetime through contingencies,” Jablon said.
“This arrangement strengthens those commitments and allows us to more easily share information, technologies and processes for greater logistics resiliency.”
Until now, the three countries have worked together in pairs on logistics issues, but this deal brings all three together under one agreement. It covers cooperation during normal operations, training, and emergencies.
Ships from these countries already help each other with refueling and supply missions during joint training. US and Australian warships have also been helping each other reload missiles at sea in the Indo-Pacific region since 2019.
To improve this work, the US Navy is building new systems that will allow ships to reload missile launchers at sea. These systems are being tested and are made to work with US and partner nation launchers. The first test was in 2024, and are planned in 2025 and 2026.
The USS America is in Australia for Exercise Talisman Sabre, a major military exercise involving 19 countries. Rhodes said the drill gives another chance to test how the three navies can work together on logistics.
“These efforts facilitate our speed of response for the full range of naval actions in the Indo-Pacific, from routine sustainment through crisis,” Rhodes said
It comes as the situation in the Pacific grows more complex, as the Chinese military has continued to extend deeper into the ocean. China has been sending aircraft and ships into territory it has never tread before.
China has also been amping up military exercises around Taiwan following the inauguration of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party. The Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan as part of its national territory, despite the fact that the Chinese government has never ruled there.
