Overview
International engagement is a critical function for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) across the spectrum of cooperation to conflict. As a key means to shape the strategic environment, deter actions against our interests and de-escalate tension, international engagement requires appropriate planning, resourcing and sustainment.
The ADF focuses international engagement on six lines of effort to contribute to multiple strategic objectives: sense, know and understand; support, enable, and contribute to allies’ and partners’ objectives; information effects; forward presence; access; and interoperability. ADF international engagement will achieve asymmetric influence through a deliberate effort to be credible, coordinated, connected and assessment-informed.
Regional defence engagement is a vital pillar of Australia’s diplomacy. It aims to shape a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous, that operates by rules, standards and norms and in which countries exercise their own agency to safeguard sovereignty. Importantly, it builds connections among defence forces and forges people-to-people links that can be drawn upon during periods of tension.