ABCANZ Armies (formally, the American, British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Armies' Program) is a program aimed at optimizing interoperability and standardization of training and equipment between the armies of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, plus the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

and the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

. Established in 1947 as a means to capitalize on close cooperation between the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the program grew to include Australia (in 1963) and New Zealand (as an observer from 1965, with full membership in 2006, although the organization's short title remained "ABCA Armies' Program").

History

The program started in 1947 as the "Plan to Effect Standardization" between the armies of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada (the ABC Armies), with the three nations looking to capitalize on the close cooperation between the forces during

. In 1954, the Plan was replaced by the "Basic Standardization Concept". Australia joined the organization in 1963, and the ABCA Program was established with the ratification of the "Basic Standardization Agreement 1964" on 1 October 1964. In 1965, Australia successfully sponsored the introduction of New Zealand to the agreement as an observer. Originally, the role of ABCANZ was limited to issues of standardization for soldier equipment, training, and tactics. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, a review by the Program's Heads of Delegations saw the Program modified to address the changing security environment and improve responsiveness, relevance, and focus on interoperability. The overhaul was completed by June 2004. Also in 2004, the increasing involvement of the

was formally recognized with a Memorandum of Understanding between the Corps and the United States Army, allowing both forces to be represented by a single position. Following this, the United Kingdom delegation successfully incorporated the

. New Zealand became a full member of ABCA in early 2006.

Equivalent organizations

Equivalent organizations for the nations' navies ( AUSCANNZUKUS - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States naval C4 organization), air forces (ASIC - Air and Space Interoperability Council), the military scientific communities (TTCP - The Technical Cooperation Program), and the Intelligence communities ( UKUSA and Five Eyes) also exist.

References

*Durrell-Young, Thomas, ''Cooperative Diffusion through Cultural Similarity: The Postwar Anglo-Saxon Experience'' in Goldman & Eliason (eds.), The Diffusion of Military Technology and Ideas, Stanford Univ Press, 2003.

External links

ABCA: A Petri Dish for Multinational Interoperability
dtic.mil

Australian "Army News"
Making the Case for Multinational Military Doctrine
dtic.mil {{DEFAULTSORT:Abca Armies Anglosphere United States Army doctrine British Army Canadian Army Australian Army New Zealand Army International military organizations Military standardization

History

Equivalent organizations

See also

References

External links