LOS ANGELES – The defence chiefs of the US, Australia and Britain met in California on Dec 1, touting high-tech cooperation on deep space radar, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing systems aimed at bolstering their armed forces in the face of growing global threats, including from China.

The three men huddled in Silicon Valley – the heart of the US tech sector – to build on the Aukus (Australia, United Kingdom and United States) partnership launched in September 2021 that is aimed at offering a Western counterweight to assertiveness from regimes in Moscow and Beijing.

“Today just underscores that Aukus is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that will promote peace and security throughout the Indo-Pacific,” US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin told reporters.

Agreements will enable the three countries “to develop and deliver advanced capabilities so that our war fighters can hear, see and act with decisive advantage”.

The tripartite gathering is the latest step in a strengthening alliance that has already seen agreements for Canberra to buy at least three nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines, and for Britain and Australia to build a new model involving US technology.

The focus of the Dec 1 meeting was on the cutting edge, including a “deep space advanced radar capability” programme, which will see radar detection sites in all three countries by the end of the decade, with the capacity to peer 35,400km into space.

“Today’s meeting will be regarded as a critical moment in the history of Pillar Two of Aukus and that is the sharing and development of advanced technologies between our three countries,” said Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles.

There would also be coordination on quantum technologies to aid with navigation and weapons direction, as well as “resilient artificial intelligence which in turn will give rise to resilient precision targeting”.

China backdrop

Mr Marles brushed off suggestions that US alliances were vulnerable to the whims of elections, such as a possible return to the White House by Donald Trump, insisting that Aukus had cross-party support in all three nations.

British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps hailed the strength of the relationship, which he said was more important than ever.

“Today, in a much more dangerous world, with Russia waging war in Ukraine, with Hamas wreaking havoc in the Middle East, China undermining the freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific – we’ve never had a greater need for more innovation to be more pioneering,” he said.

While the three countries have long been allies, the tightening of ties has unsettled Beijing, which bristles at what it sees as attempts to contain it.

All three nations regularly undertake what they call “freedom of navigation” voyages through the South China Sea, an area of international waters that China claims as its own and in which it has established military installations.

In 2023, Beijing warned that the three countries were treading a “path of error and danger” after they unveiled the deal for Canberra to buy the submarines.

Australia had previously been on track to replace its ageing fleet of diesel-powered submarines with a US$66 billion (S$88 billion) package of French vessels, also conventionally powered.

While the Virginia-class submarines will be nuclear-powered, they will not be armed with atomic weapons and are instead expected to carry long-range cruise missiles. But their fuel source enables them to stay underwater for longer and to be much quieter. AFP