The relationship between Australia and the United States is undergoing an evolution today, but it is an alliance rooted in more than 100 years of history, said Australian Foreign Minister Robert Carr. The alliance goes back to President Teddy Roosevelt’s desire to have the Great White Fleet visit Australia on its worldwide tour, said Carr during an April 25 speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. As the Japanese marched across the Pacific during World War II, and the British presence at Singapore faltered, Australia looked to the United States to help secure its territory and interests, he stated. Today, support for this alliance comes from a partnership codified in the 1951 ANZUS pact, he said. “Only earlier this month, we saw the evolution of this alliance,” said Carr, noting the arrival of the first company of US marines in Darwin, Australia, to begin training. That exchange will aid Australian forces’ ability to operate amphibiously and respond to natural disasters, he said.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
