A US ARMY General has been reported as saying American fighter planes and bombers would be based in Darwin and Tindal under a planned military expansion in the region.

General Carlisle is reported saying that the US would send, "fighters, tankers and, at some point in the future, maybe bombers on a rotational basis" to Darwin, before being rotated through Tindal RAAF base near Katherine, about 300km south of Darwin.