While bureaucrats bicker over defence funding in Canberra, the US Marine Corps is getting into the weeds of how the next conflict will play out by testing their ability to deploy from Darwin.

The US Marine Corps claims their Darwin-based troops have achieved a major training objective set out by their superiors in D.C. – with one senior commander saying the accomplishment “will echo for years to come”.

According to a MRF-D spokesman, the challenge started in Camp Pendleton, California, before the rotation flew for Darwin.

En route, the rotation was split, with some troops taking to the Australian bush, while the remainder scattered throughout the archipelago to the north, including the Philippines, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.

With multiple callsigns split across various countries, the greatest distance recorded between two Marines of the same unit was 4800 kilometres.

This month, Commander Faith Gamboa of the US Coast Guard will lead a team - of which about 90 per cent are reservists - who hail from Clearwater, Florida.

“This is the first time a Port Security unit has ever been to Darwin, ever been to the Indian Ocean,” she said.

“So this is a big thing for the US government.”

While it is rare for the US Coast Guard to partake in a large, international military exercise, Commander Gamboa said she saw potential to test her troops in the waters of Darwin Harbour and beyond.

Exercise Talisman Sabre will run from 13 July to 4 August.

With more than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations about to participate in one of our nation’s largest ever war games exercises, Australian Defence has warned of the increased military activity.

Australia will host Exercise Talisman Sabre from 13 July to 4 August with significant areas of the Northern Territory involved.

Talisman Sabre locations include:

Northern Territory Defence Bases/Training Areas: HMAS Coonawarra; Larrakeyah Defence Precinct; Defence Estate Berrimah; Robertson Barracks; RAAF Base Darwin; RAAF Base Tindal; Bradshaw Field Training Area; Mt Bundy Training Area; Delamere Air Weapons Range; Darwin; Katherine; Bootu Creek; Timber Creek and Roper River region.

“We ask the community to be aware, but not alarmed by these activities,” Defence said in a statement.

A Red Centre spy base – run by the Australian and US governments – became the site of a “vigil” the day the USA celebrated its independence.

About 60 people gathered on Hatt Rd – which leads into Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility, located south of Alice Springs – Friday morning as part of the vigil.

The event was organised by Mpartwe for Falastin, and one of the organisers, Jorgen Assmussen Doyle said, the event was calling for Pine Gap to be shut.

In June, after the US bombed Iran, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deflected the question when asked if Pine Gap was involved in the US strike. 

Australians should expect more US troops on our soil, Defence Minister Richard Marles has told the Latika Takes podcast.

As part of AUKUS, the United States will start operating its own nuclear-capable submarines out of HMAS Stirling in Perth in 2027.

Mr Hegseth has said in several readouts after speaking to or meeting Mr Marles that they have discussed “accelerating US force posture initiatives in Australia.”

Asked if this meant a greater US military presence in Australia, Mr Marles confirmed it would grow but did not think that would be controversial or surprising.

Former Home Affairs boss and author of the 2009 Defence White Paper Mike Pezzullo, recently wrote in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s The Strategist, that while the US did not have a significant number of troops in Australia, they were creating the infrastructure for a surge.