Pay the PIPIR: US and Indo-Pacific Defense Industrial Base Cooperation

Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR); Papua New Guinea; ASEAN-India Summit

Oct 15, 2024

Hub Story: DoD’s New Indo-Pacific Defense Industrial Base Program
Spoke Story: US-Papua New Guinea Strategic Partnership Dialogue
Spoke Story: ASEAN-India Summit

Hub Story: DoD’s New Indo-Pacific Defense Industrial Base Program

On October 7-8, 2024, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante chaired the inaugural plenary meeting of the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR) in Honolulu, gathering National Armament Directors from member nations. The forum aims to enhance defense industrial resilience by reducing production barriers and addressing supply chain issues, with participants adopting a Core Vision Statement to guide their collaboration.

PIPIR began in May of this year after the Shangri-La Security Dialogue. Thirteen nations agreed to a broad set of principles to guide the new defense industrial initiative.

US Department of Defense: Endorsing a Statement of Principles for Indo-Pacific Defense Industrial Base Collaboration:

The following principles will guide these collaborative actions among likeminded participants:
Ensuring shared defense industrial resilience is vital to the continued regional security, economic security, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.
Strengthening defense industrial resilience requires collaborative action to expand industrial base capability, capacity, and workforce; increase supply chain resilience; promote defense innovation; improve information sharing; encourage standardization; reduce barriers to cooperation; and otherwise mitigate potential vulnerabilities and facilitate collaboration.
Optimizing collaboration requires accounting for the needs, capabilities, and comparative advantages of participants' industrial bases consistent with free and fair market competition and protection of intellectual property.
Conducting collaborative action will not be limited to governments, but also include industry, capital providers, academia, and other forms of partnership.
Fostering further dialogue is needed to promote collaboration and increase shared defense industrial resilience.

PIPIR is based on its European cousin, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), which includes more than 40 countries and is convened to accelerate “capability deliveries to Ukraine by synchronizing international procurement, production, and sustainment efforts.” However, UDCG operates more as a crisis response group, while PIPIR has the opportunity to be a more structured and sustainable defense industrial collaboration forum. A notable distinction between the two is that UDCG’s raison d’etre is capability delivery to Ukraine; this is notably absent in PIPIR, which does not mention or seem to strive for capability delivery to Taiwan. Instead, PIPIR is more about boosting American capacity through allies and partners.

The member nations of PIPIR identified four workstreams on which the countries would collaborate. Those four workstreams are Sustainment, Production, Supply Chain Resilience, and Policy and Optimization. Indo-Pacific nations already have several projects contributing to each workstream. Here are just a few of the most recent announcements:

Sustainment:

Production:

Supply Chain Resilience:

Policy and Optimization:

PIPIR is guided by DoD’s Regional Sustainment Framework, which puts the priority on Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) agreements.

US Department of Defense: Regional Sustainment Framework:

The Regional Sustainment Framework (RSF) outlines the Department’s strategic initiative designed to optimize regional Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities. These capabilities may be owned by partner nations, industrial partners, or through cooperative partnerships. Currently, we return assets to the Continental United States for major repairs, missing an opportunity to use existing ally or partner nation MRO capabilities for shared weapons systems. By integrating these resources, we foster an effective regional MRO strategy that supports both our regional partners and the U.S. Joint Force in competition and conflict.

Out of the four workstreams listed above, sustainment seems to be the initiative with the least amount of progress. In January, there were reports that the US and Japan would announce an agreement on Japan conducting repairs for major warships, but negotiations are still ongoing. Perhaps PIPIR can streamline collaboration.

Spoke Story: US-Papua New Guinea Strategic Partnership Dialogue

On October 10, 2024, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Papua New Guinea Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso held the inaugural US-Papua New Guinea Strategic Partnership Dialogue in Washington, DC, significantly strengthening bilateral relations. The dialogue aims to enhance cooperation in various areas, including security, climate change, economic development, and cultural exchange while committing to modernizing their security relationship to support a free and open Indo-Pacific. Both nations expressed their dedication to annual consultations, with the next meeting scheduled for 2025 in Port Moresby to coincide with Papua New Guinea’s 50th anniversary of independence.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been a target nation for US defense policy in the region. In the past year, US-PNG ties have broaden and deepened. For decades, PNG has been struggling to modernize and professionalize its armed forces. While PNG ushered new security agreements with Indonesia and Australia, PNG still lacked the adequate partner. Last year, the United States and Papua New Guinea signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) designed to overhaul the relationship.

PNG is a strategically located partner for the United States.

The Strategist: The Rising Value of Papua New Guinea’s Strategic Geography:

The island of New Guinea, of which PNG forms the eastern half, is often depicted as sitting at the foot of the ‘second island chain’. Alternatively conceived, it constitutes the biggest link in Australia’s own first island chain. Either way, its importance is clear: it’s not just the closest country to the Australian mainland but, with an 820-kilometre land border with Indonesia, also the hinge between Southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific. The Torres Strait, between PNG and Australia, controls access between the Indonesian archipelago and the Coral Sea. Cape York, the northernmost part of the Australian continent, points directly to Guam, in the Marianas, America’s bulwark base in the second island chain. PNG is the only country in between.

The DCA bolsters American access and includes provisions for tighter US-PNG training and collaboration, specifically on countering illegal fishing. Under the agreement, the United States will have access to six sites for 15 years, including Lombrum Naval Base and Momote Airport in northern Papua New Guinea. The bases can be used for contingency operations, which during peacetime means response to natural disasters and providing humanitarian aid, but potentially could be used for future conflicts.

Spoke Story: ASEAN-India Summit

At the recent India-ASEAN Summit in Laos, leaders underscored the importance of deepening partnerships to counterbalance regional challenges and enhance cooperation across various sectors. The discussions highlighted shared commitments to upholding international law and promoting stability while exploring opportunities for economic and educational collaboration. This summit represents a continued effort to strengthen ties as both sides navigate evolving geopolitical dynamics in the region.

India is emerging as the strategic partner of choice for Southeast Asian countries, a significant development as the US-China rivalry continues to impact the region. ASEAN, in particular, is wary of aligning with either superpower in this new cold war. While other Indo-Pacific nations like Japan and Australia have strong ties to the region, Southeast Asian nations may be seeking a partner that is not bound by legal obligations to the United States. India boasts a robust streak of independence that allows it to engage with Russia, the United States, and China, which could be the ideal strategic partner.

Prime Minister Modi announced a 10 point plan to support India-ASEAN partnership:

Celebrating 2025 as ASEAN-India Year of Tourism for which India will make available USD 5 million towards joint activities
Celebrate a decade of Act East Policy through several people centric activities including Youth Summit, Start-up Festival, Hackathon, Music Festival, ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks and Delhi Dialogue
Doubling the number of scholarships at Nalanda University and provision of new scholarships for ASEAN students at Agriculture Universities in India
A women scientist conclave under the India-ASEAN S&T Fund
Expeditious review and conclusion of ASEAN-India Trade in Good Agreement by 2025
Allocation of $5mn for disaster resilience from India-ASEAN Fund
Institutionalization of health ministers’ meetings for ensuring health security
Digital and cyber policy dialogue
Green future through regular workshops and exchange of information and expertise
Supporting climate resilience through " Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” (Plant for Mother)

Washington should do what it can to encourage closer alignment between ASEAN and India. Even if ASEAN-India cooperation is not a direct positive for the United States, it is an indirect gain because it results in a stronger India and isn’t a win for China. Letting allies and partners play a leadership role in the regions the United States cannot prioritize is something Washington should encourage. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell got heat for an off-the-cuff remark about the United States deputizing Australia in the Pacific Islands. Poor language, good policy.