In addition, the Bilateral Training and Consultative Group and the International Military & Education Training initiatives have been instrumental in preserving if not promoting the navy-to-navy engagement. Those platforms set the foundation to co-ordinate all activities encompassing the scope of defense cooperation, exercises, courses, intelligence and communications. This long-standing arrangement has benefited both the RMN and the U.S. Navy to a large extent and continues to serve as an avenue for interaction amongst the naval subject matter experts. Obviously, the commitment in fulfilling the above activities could not have been successfully executed without the effective roles of the leadership of both navies.
In the foreseeable future, it is anticipated that the RMN–U.S. Navy engagement will reach new heights. New areas of cooperation in the domains such as submarine force capabilities development and training are already being discussed and deliberated. At the same time, the RMN looks forward to realizing its future acquisition programs related to littoral combatant ships and medium-lift antisubmarine warfare helicopters. As such, it can be deduced that the claim of reduction in U.S. global naval engagement does not apply to the RMN–U.S. Navy relations.
