Land Warfare Studies Centre Working Paper #121: Australian Army Cooperation with the Land Forces Of The United States- Problems Of The Junior Partner (2003) By Alan Ryan
 
Australia’s commitment to the War on Terrorism exposes a
conundrum that lies at the heart of Australian defence preparedness. In
a world dominated by the United States as the global superpower, how
can Australia use its defence forces to pursue national interests while
gaining the strategic benefits that accrue from being a close partner of
the United States? Events since 11 September 2001 have demonstrated
that it is no longer possible to restrict Australia’s strategic horizon to
its immediate region. Indeed, during the past century, conflicts of
global magnitude always included Australia. The United States is at
war. Initially, it was thought that this fact need not pose an immediate
threat to Australia. However, Australian citizens have been the target
of terrorist violence, not only because they were Australians, but
because they were perceived as American allies. The fundamentalist
terrorists’ failure to discriminate means that the vital interests of any
pluralist secular state are potential targets.

Without seeking a war, the Australian people have had a war declared
on them. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) must maintain
readiness to combat the threat. As a small, though high-quality,
military force with limited resources, the ADF can only make the most
of its capabilities by establishing complementary synergies with other
armed forces. In this strategic environment, no military relationship is
more important than Australia’s relationship with the world’s first
‘Hyperpower’. It is inevitable that the ADF will continue to play a part
in coalition operations against terrorist organisations and the states that
shelter them. Given the fluid and unpredictable nature of this conflict,
the Army in particular will be stretched to provide the range of
capabilities required, and to sustain the ongoing cycle of deployments.
As the Australian Government’s support of the US position on the
Ba’ath regime in Iraq has demonstrated, contributing land forces to
contemporary international coalitions presents the Army with a range
of political, operational and tactical problems. For Australia to make
the most of its contribution, its political leadership, foreign affairs
officials and force planners need to work closely in order to match
capabilities to outcomes. Experience has shown that, when
cooperating with a superpower in a military context, the junior partner
 
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