Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles at Moffett Field in California today to discuss growing defense and security cooperation between the United States and Australia.
They discussed defense technology and industrial collaboration, force posture initiatives, and other areas of deepening cooperation. They also discussed shared global security challenges, including the PLA's pattern of coercive and risky operational behavior in the South and East China Seas, as well as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The officials met together later in the day with their counterpart from the United Kingdom, the Right Honourable Grant Shapps, to discuss the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Security Partnership (AUKUS).
