{"id":57616,"date":"2020-07-17T13:25:40","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T03:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=57616"},"modified":"2020-08-14T14:38:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T04:38:15","slug":"australias-growing-defence-relationship-with-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-growing-defence-relationship-with-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s growing defence relationship with France"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

When discussing their nation\u2019s defence relationship with France, many Australians express perplexed curiosity. The prevailing view appears to focus on points of difference rather than confluence.<\/p>\n

In reality, the Australia\u2013France defence partnership has been growing rapidly and is increasingly characterised by points of convergence, not divergence.<\/p>\n

It may surprise many that shared historical, geographical and cultural points set the scene for closer cooperation.<\/p>\n

For over a century, both nations have fought<\/a> to preserve mutual interests and defeat common threats. This struggle endures in the Middle East, Africa and the Asia\u2013Pacific region. Canberra and Paris have always maintained a connection by virtue of France\u2019s Pacific territories. New Caledonia is the closest foreign soil to Brisbane. Australia\u2019s fourth overseas diplomatic mission was to Noumea, after London, Washington and Ottawa, and before Wellington. In terms of shared values, libert\u00e9<\/em> and freedom, egalit\u00e9<\/em> and \u2018a fair go\u2019 and fraternit\u00e9<\/em> and \u2018mateship\u2019 provide a more profound point of correlation than most may perceive.<\/p>\n

Both nations prioritise preserving the rules-based order, internationally and, increasingly, regionally. France\u2019s defence policy for the Indo-Pacific, expressed through the Indo-Pacific Axis<\/a>, its capstone strategic documents<\/a>, public speeches<\/a> and tactical actions<\/a>, are clear, consistent and complementary with Australia\u2019s posture<\/a>, as expressed in its 2016 defence white paper<\/a> and 2020 defence strategic update and force structure plan<\/a>. The French military aspires to be the \u2018benchmark\u2019 military in Europe, consistent with Australia\u2019s ambition to have submarines that are \u2018regionally superior\u2019. Both militaries share similar objectives, programs, perspectives, challenges and opportunities.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been significant growth in joint military and single-service bilateral engagement. During the past two years, the frequency of high-level defence meetings has increased several times over. Our forces have inked important agreements on intelligence sharing<\/a> and logistics support<\/a>. France has deployed its nuclear aircraft carrier battlegroup to Australia\u2019s region and, in 2020, prior to the onset of Covid-19, was sponsoring the largest\u2011ever humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise in the South Pacific, Exercise Croix du Sud 2020.<\/p>\n

It would be reductionist to define the bilateral maritime relationship through the prism of the $80 billion Attack-class submarine contract, though it has brought a deeper partnership. Since the contract was signed, both navies have looked for opportunities to engage. They have created Exercise La Perouse<\/a>, an annual maritime exercise in the Indian Ocean. Other examples of the rapid growth in the bilateral maritime engagement include high-profile port visits, particularly to Noumea, at-sea interaction, information and intelligence sharing, training and, in the near future, combined patrols in Australia\u2019s region.<\/p>\n

Both armies pursue people-to-people links, routine benchmarking and interoperability. Leadership engagement has greatly expanded over the past two years, and modernisation and innovation programs, human resources strategy and training methodologies are being made increasingly compatible. It is now commonplace to see personnel from both nations\u2019 armed forces participating in each other\u2019s aviation, amphibious, leadership, and close combat and combined-arms courses, training and exercises.\u00a0 A habitual partnership is emerging between the Arm\u00e9e de Terre elements based in New Caledonia and Australia\u2019s combat brigades.<\/p>\n

Now, the Australian Army is seeking to draw on the Arm\u00e9e de Terre\u2019s extensive and unique warfighting experiences from sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

In 2018, France committed Rafale fighter aircraft to Australia\u2019s Exercise Pitch Black. Deploying lead-in fighters for an Australian-led exercise 14,000 kilometres away was no small commitment. This engagement, which would have been repeated in 2020 but for the Covid-19 outbreak, reflects several points of convergence between the two air forces: complementary regional interests, training for high-intensity conflict against a peer-state adversary, and the pursuit of interoperability with \u2018benchmark\u2019 air forces.<\/p>\n

Points of difference between nations and their militaries can be frequently exaggerated, resulting in missed opportunities. The distance between Australia and France is typically cited as a significant impediment to the partnership. Yet the closest French territorial capital, an increasingly important one, is geographically closer to Canberra than Wellington is. Moreover, convergence means there\u2019s probably never been a time when the \u2018distance\u2019 between our countries has been less relevant. Despite our strategic and military differences, the points of confluence, and opportunities for collaboration, are profound.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, Australians, and indeed the Australian defence community, should be informed by, and optimistic about, the rapidly growing bilateral Australia\u2013France defence partnership. This partnership has not reached its potential. There is considerable room for additional growth, regionally and between Australia and metropolitan France.<\/p>\n

Closer bilateral engagement is revealing additional opportunities for convergence, and enhancing an increasingly important defence partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When discussing their nation\u2019s defence relationship with France, many Australians express perplexed curiosity. The prevailing view appears to focus on points of difference rather than confluence. In reality, the Australia\u2013France defence partnership has been growing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":57618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,51,291,99],"class_list":["post-57616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-defence-cooperation","tag-france","tag-south-pacific"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia\u2019s growing defence relationship with France | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-growing-defence-relationship-with-france\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia\u2019s growing defence relationship with France | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When discussing their nation\u2019s defence relationship with France, many Australians express perplexed curiosity. 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