The navies of the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States successfully managed uncrewed vessels in Australia while stationed over 10,000 miles away in Portugal, according to a statement from Britain’s Royal Navy on Friday. This achievement is part of a series of military trials linked to the AUKUS security agreement, which seeks to address China‘s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The Royal Navy noted that this pact is facilitating the rapid introduction of new military technologies to operational settings at an “unprecedented” rate.

“The accomplishments we’ve seen, particularly the ability of all three AUKUS navies to command and control ships across the globe in a tactically relevant environment, demonstrate our progress toward realizing our goal of a cohesive team of both crewed and uncrewed systems. These systems will be capable of operating effectively in diverse environments, from the ocean depths to outer space,” stated James Parkin, Director of Development at the Royal Navy.

The experiments, referred to as “Maritime Big Play,” also evaluated various uncrewed technologies in simulated operational environments. This involved deploying payloads from a drone, with the primary objective of rapidly advancing uncrewed technology to the frontline.

The AUKUS nations are set to conduct additional experiments later this year, featuring approximately 30 systems in a large-scale demonstration in the Indo-Pacific, according to the Royal Navy.

This year, the AUKUS nations have intensified their collaboration, including reforms introduced in August aimed at eliminating significant barriers to defense trade. China has characterized the AUKUS agreement as perilous and has cautioned that it may trigger a regional arms race.