The 2023 Australian Defence Strategic Review identified the northeast Indian Ocean within Australia's primary area of military interest. Though Australia has a long Indian Ocean history, the balancing of effort between the Indian Ocean and competing priority theatres is a major challenge for Australian defence policy. With even greater competing demands across theatres drawing US energies elsewhere, the Indian Ocean has not emerged as a priority for our US ally. With strategic competition increasingly encroaching on the Indian Ocean and intensifying non-traditional security threats, there is a need for Australia to take a more strategic approach beyond its Indian Ocean coastline and to understand the future of US commitments in the region. The United States Studies Centre undertook a project to both baseline and propose future direction for US and Australian defence policy in the Indian Ocean.
As part of this Indian Ocean strategy project, in November 2023, USSC experts convened a track 1.5 workshop of 30 Australian officials, servicemembers and experts to discuss Australian interests, opportunities and future risks in the Indian Ocean. This workshop and the resulting research were generously supported by the Australian Department of Defence.
Public outcomes from this workshop included the following:
- Professor Ben Reilly and Professor Peter Dean, "Indian Ocean security means more will be asked of US allies," Asia Pacific Bulletin
- Jennifer Parker, "Australia needs to step up in the western Indian Ocean," The Strategist
- Samuel Bashfield, "Mauritius one step closer to Diego Garcia sovereignty," War on the Rocks
- Riya Sinha, "Australia should champion Indian Ocean port development,, The Strategist
The following reports, briefs and articles were published as part of this project.
Project publications
As the Indian Ocean grows central to Australia’s security, this report by Professor Peter Dean and Alice Nason sets out a roadmap for a cohesive strategy that balances ambition with resources.
In this brief, Professor Peter Dean argues that the ADF must increase investment, resources and political attention toward Western Australia and ADF forward bases across the Indian Ocean region to ensure credible operational readiness and meet emerging security challenges.
In this paper, Professor Ben Reilly, Alice Nason and Lily Manning argue that Australia can creatively leverage the expertise, reputation and limited available resources of its European partners to contribute to Indian Ocean security.
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In this brief, Royal Australian Navy Commander Phil Johnston looks at the scale of threats in the Indian Ocean region and the role Australia, India and the United States can play in increasing maritime domain awareness.
In an article for The Washington Quarterly, Professor Peter Dean, Dr Michael Green and Alice Nason propose key elements of a new US Indian Ocean strategy for the United States.
In this brief, Dr Arzan Tarapore argues that India, Australia and the United States should deepen naval cooperation in anti-submarine warfare and undersea warfare to offset China’s growing submarine capability in the Indian Ocean.
In this article published by the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, Professor Benjamin Reilly explores the feasibility of a deepening within and among Indo-Pacific democracies in the near future.
