From left: Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pose for a photograph at the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, May 26, 2026.
During their meeting at New Delhi on May 26, the Quad foreign ministers announced a major new maritime security initiative: the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC).
The initiative, proposed by India, will initially focus on the Indian Ocean. It will use the latest tracking technologies and satellite data to provide real-time information on the kind of vessels operating in the region. In the words of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the initiative seeks to leverage each of the Quad countries’ maritime surveillance capabilities to enhance information sharing.
IPMSC complements the existing Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative, which was launched in Tokyo in April 2022. Through IPMDA, Quad countries, which include India, Japan, Australia, and the United States, provide friendly regional countries with technology and training to support shared maritime domain awareness and develop a common operating picture of the Indo-Pacific waters.
