The U.S. Army's Indo-Pacific Tactical MPE is combat ready this evening

The cutter's crew also conducts outreach to local communities, including topic exchanges, educational visits and tours of Harriet Lane with partner country fisheries authorities and marine police officers. Operation Blue Pacific involves Australian Border Force mariners aboard the Harriet Lane for the US Coast Guard to expand their knowledge base.

“I am incredibly proud of what the crew has accomplished so far,” said the cutter’s commander, Cdr. Nicole Tesoniero, in the report. “Harriet Lane’s continued presence in the Pacific is a testament to our decades of support and adaptability to the evolving needs of our regional partners. We don't just operate in the region; We integrate our efforts with the wants and needs of those we serve.”

In July, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency announced the award of a contract for its Project Aegir, which aims to create capabilities to help track illegal maritime activities and raise awareness of maritime domains in the Indo-Pacific region. The agency selected Palo Alto-based Orbital Insight for up to $2 million in financing. The selection effort at the Defense Innovation Unit in Mountain View, California, brought together analysts and geospatial data acquisition managers from the NGA and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, as well as experts from the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center Pacific.

These efforts to combat illegal maritime activities also come with continued U.S. government funding of the region. The crucial free association agreements reached in March will provide about $6.6 billion in new economic aid to Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau over 20 years.

The Department of Defense relies on locations in these countries to help secure the region and further improve operations. The Indo-Pacific Command in particular is examining how to improve the military's logistics in the region and will need flexibility across different locations.

“The logistics environment is going to be competitive,” said Dick Palmieri, a longtime Indo-Pacific expert and president of the AFCEA-Hawaii division. “How can we stay one step ahead of the bad guys working against our logistics systems, or how can we make our logistics decisions faster?”

With Micronesia's consent, the U.S. Air Force can conduct Agile Combat Employment (ACE) operations across 600 islands. Additionally, Palau is home to the Multi-Mission Tactical Over-the-Horizon Radar, which will provide the Department of Defense with an unprecedented level of situational airspace awareness in the maritime region. The so-called TACMOR system will provide persistent, long-range detection and tracking capability for air and surface targets. On December 28, 2022, the military awarded $118.4 million to Gilbane Federal to build the radar by June 2026.

The Bucholz Army Airfield on Kwajalein Atoll now also provides the US Air Force with good positioning for its ACE operations and for refueling. And in the US Army garrison on the atoll is the test site for Ronald Reagan's ballistic missile defense. Additionally, the Space Force continues to invest in the critical space surveillance system on the atoll.

The so-called Space Fence, the service's most sensitive search radar in its surveillance network, became operational in 2020. According to manufacturer Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, the Space Fence enables the uncontrolled detection, tracking and precise measurement of space objects. including satellites and orbital debris, particularly in low Earth orbits.

In July, the Space Force awarded Lockheed a $25 million contract to continue operating, maintaining and supporting the Space Fence on Kwajalein Atoll. “The new radar enables the detection of much smaller microsatellites and debris than current systems,” the company said. “It also significantly improves the timeliness with which operators can detect space events. The flexibility and sensitivity of the system also allows coverage of objects in geosynchronous orbit while maintaining the surveillance fence.”

In addition, the US military is strengthening several other military defense systems. In June, the Navy awarded a $249 million contract to the Black & Veatch/Jacobs joint venture to build a missile defense system and supporting infrastructure in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

And although the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has increased its forces to respond to the geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, Palmieri expects the Indo-Pacific Command to continue its ongoing work in the Indo-Pacific region unabated. It has earmarked funds under the Pacific Defense Initiative.

“Even a few years ago, when I was still on active duty, they started bringing additional resources to the Pacific,” he noted. “It was not considered a priority theater compared to CENTCOM at the time, and CENTCOM had specific resources for it [operate]. So [they] made the same effort to put forward a budget proposal that was funded, known as the Pacific Defense Initiative.”