The United States military is building up its infrastructure in northern Australia, a move aimed at projecting power into the South China Sea in the event of a crisis with China, according to a Reuters review of documents and interviews with US and Australian defense officials. Darwin, closer to the Philippines than Canberra, Australia’s capital, has long been a garrison town for the Australian Defence Force and a six-month deployment site for a US Marine Rotational Force. Just a few hundred kilometers south, RAAF Base Tindal houses key elements of Australia’s airpower and served as a temporary base for US jets during recent exercises. As northern Australia emerges as a strategically vital Indo-Pacific location amid rising tensions with China, the United States has quietly begun constructing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of facilities to support B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters, and refueling and transport aircraft. This is part of a broader effort to disperse US forces across the region, making them less vulnerable.
“When you look at the positioning of northern Australia, particularly Darwin, in relation to the region… it’s always good to have multiple options in where you would want to put your forces in any type of crisis,” said Colonel Brian Mulvihill, commanding officer of the US Marine Rotational Force. Tender documents reveal the construction of intelligence briefing rooms, upgraded runways for bombers, warehouses, data centers, and maintenance hangars. Officials, during a rare visit to the two northern bases, confirmed that massive fuel storage facilities are already operational. These projects, scheduled for completion in 2024 and 2025, make northern Australia the top overseas location for US Air Force and Navy construction spending, with over $300 million allocated under US congressional defense authorizations for those years. More projects are on the horizon: In June, the US Navy sought contractors for projects worth up to $2 billion to build wharves, runways, fuel storage, and hangars in locations including Australia’s Cocos Islands, neighboring Papua New Guinea, and Timor Leste, under a program aimed at countering China’s influence. China’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Air Commodore Ron Tilley, the Royal Australian Air Force director-general of capital facilities and infrastructure, confirmed that Washington is funding the facilities at Darwin and Tindal, which will support US operations. “I don’t believe the US would be spending all this money on our northern bases if there wasn’t an arrangement in place where they could use those facilities they are funding in times of conflict,” he added. Canberra has strengthened its ties with its top security ally, Washington, through the AUKUS pact, which will transfer US nuclear submarine technology to Australia next decade. However, Australia has remained largely silent on US military construction in the north. The Australian government recently highlighted its own plans to spend A$14 billion “hardening” the northern bases as part of the country’s biggest defense shakeup since World War II. Australian and US defense officials interviewed for this story emphasized that the new facilities should not be viewed as US bases. Foreign basing is a sensitive political issue in Australia, and successive governments, including that of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have maintained that there are no US bases on Australian soil. “All the bases will remain Australian bases, but will be able to be utilized by our international partners,” Tilley said.
The 2011 agreement with Australia for temporary US Marine Corps training in Darwin has evolved into a regional deterrence role for about 2,000 Marines each year, Mulvihill said. This month’s war games included troops from the Philippines and Timor Leste. The Marines are adding facilities at Darwin for their MV-22 Osprey aircraft, which can transport troops and equipment. “Darwin is absolutely key terrain for us to help bring stability to the region,” he said in an interview at Darwin’s Larrakeyah Barracks. “We are more focused on that interoperability with the Australian Defence Force – how can we project power from northern Australia into the region.” The United States aims to disperse its forces from its largest bases in the Pacific, such as Guam and Okinawa, to reduce vulnerability. For Australia, the northern bases provide greater access to the South China Sea, and with Tindal, a secure inland location for Australia’s F-35A stealth aircraft and its MQ-4C Triton long-range surveillance drone. A US F-22 Raptor squadron shared the facilities this month during Exercise Pitch Black. Tindal’s location is “vitally important,” said RAAF Base Tindal Wing Commander Fiona Pearce, with “greater reach into our near region.” US tender documents and engineering plans for Tindal show parking and hangars for six B-52 bombers and refueling aircraft. Australia is spending A$1.5 billion ($981.45 million) on Tindal’s redevelopment, and by July a new terminal, control tower, hangars, and accommodation for extra personnel were nearing completion. Separate US and Australian jet fuel stores are located side-by-side, and the tarmac is being expanded for the bomber operations.
A third of residents in the sparsely populated Northern Territory are Indigenous Australians, though they make up only 10% of Darwin’s population. Traditional Owners, the term for Indigenous Australians with cultural access rights to a specific area of land or sea, can visit sacred sites on the bases, according to US and Australian officials. Tibby Quall, 75, is one of several Traditional Owners who say the growing demand for defense-related housing in Darwin has led to forest clearing that they want protected, while rising prices have pushed Indigenous families out of the city. Despite visitation rights, he says, his family has no real say in how the land is used. “Defence are the prominent citizens,” said Quall, a military veteran. Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis says his city, where a Chinese company manages the port, welcomes the economic boost from the growing defense presence, though some residents have voiced concerns that hosting the US military could make the city a target. “The reality is that we are already a target: We are the most northern port in Australia, we are the city that serves the gas and oil industry,” said Vatskalis, who supports the military expansion. ($1 = 1.5284 Australian dollars).
