Originally Posted by HKDan

Australia represents the best possibility to be a US ally on the order of Japan or South Korea, Hester observed. The US has full intelligence sharing with Australia and Britain—“a pretty strong statement about the relationship between America and those two countries.” And although Australia has struck its own military cooperation deals with China, he doesn’t see it as a shift in Canberra’s attitudes.

“The relationship [with Australia] is as strong as it ever was; in fact, it’s stronger,” Hester asserted.
He noted that Australia is partnered with the US in development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and ensured that its new AWACS-type aircraft would be compatible with US systems for future coalition work. Australia has also recently purchased four C-17s, and USAF embedded Australian crews on its own C-17s for their training in the airlifter.

Moreover, US aircraft have been permitted to train on ranges in northern Australia, and Hester expects that when the F-22 is based at Hickam, it will go to those ranges for exercises “more frequently than we have in the past.”
Australia also played a key role in introducing US military officials to their counterparts in Indonesia during the tsunami relief efforts of 2004. For a decade, US policy prohibited official mil-to-mil contacts with Indonesia. The restriction has since been lifted.