The US wants to improve defense cooperation with ASEAN nations.

By strengthening regional security through improved domain awareness, cybersecurity, and marine defense, the United States hopes to increase its defense cooperation with ASEAN nations. Protecting Southeast Asian sovereignty and bolstering group reactions to escalating foreign threats, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region are the goals of this program.

The US Department of Defense issued a statement emphasizing that enabling defense capabilities is based on securing domain awareness across the air, sea, cyber, and information environments. For regional allies to successfully defend their territory, the US claims that "responding to illegal intrusions and coercion" depends on this awareness.

The joint statement said, "The United States will continue ongoing efforts to improve the capability of Southeast Asian partners to detect and identify activity within their Air Defense Identification Zones, Exclusive Economic Zones, and Sovereign Airspace; fuse that information within their government information systems; and exercise their sovereign authorities, commitments to international agreements, and their ability to share the information regionally." 

In addition, the US announced preparations for a second ASEAN-US maritime exercise in 2025, which will build on several collaborative military exercises, including SUPER GARUDA SHIELD, COBRA GOLD, and BALIKATAN. According to the statement, "Through multilateral exercises and activities, we will seek to expand the cooperation of Southeast Asian allies and partners, building interoperability and relationships that promote resilience and peace." 

. The United States intends to promote government, academic, and business collaborations to increase defense industrial capability. To improve the defense infrastructure in the region, this project will involve academic exchanges and technical demonstrations. With an emphasis on topics including humanitarian aid and counterterrorism, the US promises to maintain its strong involvement in ADMM-Plus Expert Working Groups (EWGs).