British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said today a visit last year by British sailors led by Prince Harry for centenary celebrations for the Royal Australian Navy were so successful a return was likely.
And this time they may send an aircraft carrier.
Mr Hammond's comments came after he held high-level talks with his Australian counterpart Defence Minister David Johnston on greater development of "interoperability" between respective Armed Forces and firm opportunities for collaborating on defence engagement in the Asia Pacific region.
"That was a very successful visit," Mr Hammond said of the Royal Navy's visit to Sydney last October.
"As our focus increasingly turns to the Asia Pacific I would expect us to send ships more regularly in future into the Pacific and of course looking out four years when our carrier strike capability is regenerated we will then have the reach that possession of aircraft carriers can give us," he said as he spoke of two new aircraft carriers currently being constructed at a cost of $12 billion.
But Mr Hammond said he did not envisage "at the present time" basing ships in Australia or elsewhere in the Pacific but rather "extended visits on a more regular basis was a more immediate objective".
Mr Johnston said Australia already had US marines coming to places like Darwin and that was not a "basing" but an opportunity to use Australian facilities and he welcomed Britain adopting a similar interoperation with Australia's armed forces.