During a visit to Sydney on Wednesday, the commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, signed a 2017 agreement for Australia to host Raptors, which will "send a strong signal about USA military presence in the region"

Euan Graham, the Lowy Institute's director of international security, described the presence of the F-22s as "pretty high-end coercive signalling to China". While the rotation of marines in Darwin got more attention, the stationing of planes was much more strategically significant, he said.