The cooperation in the defence sector has grown to include numerous areas of common concern. Under the ADMM, there are initiatives to address issues on maritime security (MS), humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), military medicine (MM), counter-terrorism (CT), peacekeeping operations (PKO), defence industry, and border management. Similarly, the ADMM-Plus facilitates cooperation on MS, HADR, MM, CT, PKO, cyber security (CS) and humanitarian mine action (HMA) issues. 

After its formative years, defence cooperation in ASEAN has begun to deliver more practical outcomes. For instance, the ADMM is now ready to respond jointly to natural disasters and to work together in mitigating the risks stemming from violent extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. The ADMM also trains military medical practitioners as well as chemical, biological and radiological defence experts. In recent years the defence sector has also engaged an increasing number of cross-sectoral issues to support more collaborative efforts and to ensure its relevance to the broader regional agenda.