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The United States armed forces have long considered the Indian Ocean unimportant compared to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, in the last decade, this perception has changed, with new American interest resulting from the increasing concerns over China’s role in the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, in the current political and financial environment, US forces are unlikely to engage in a major shift of resources toward the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, the cooperative approach vis-à-vis India and Australia is driving the Pentagon’s strategy for the region in a way that could foreshadow emerging patterns of US military policy. Therefore, if it is too soon to portray the Indian Ocean as the center of gravity of the twenty-first century, it undeniably represents a laboratory for future US military geography.