No Ordinary Arms Deal: Is Europe Learning Anything from AUKUS?

CSDS POLICY BRIEF • 19/2023

By Lotje Boswinkel and Luis Simón

28.06.2023

The “AUKUS” partnership promises to become an important element in the Indo-Pacific’s emerging deterrence architecture. Notwithstanding the challenges that lie ahead with the initiative, AUKUS bears testament to the fact that the Indo-Pacific region will be the locomotive of global military-technological innovation. AUKUS bears important lessons for Europeans, not least in that it compels them to think more systematically about how to integrate key Indo-Pacific partners in their defence innovation efforts. AUKUS underscores the importance of anchoring armaments exports and military-technological cooperation in greater strategic and operational cooperation. This is particularly true in the Indo-Pacific, where most countries assess prospective arms sales and opportunities for military-technological cooperation not just in economic terms, but for their strategic and operational value added too. Even though most European countries may not play a front-line role in upholding regional deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, they nevertheless need to plan for greater strategic and operational engagement.

CSDS Policy brief_2319.pdf (391.48 KB)

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