The US will increase rotations of its air, land and sea forces to Australia and has condemned China’s “dangerous and coercive actions” across the Indo-Pacific region.

As part of the step-up in defence ties, the US plans to preposition munitions and fuel in Australia to support its military forces.

Airfields in northern Australia are set to be upgraded to enable rotations of US aircraft.

Defence secretary also pledges to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines ‘as quickly as possible’ at annual high-level talks.

Austin said the US would “increase rotations of our air, land and sea forces” to Australia as the two countries were “determined to be a force for stability” in the region.

“That includes rotations of bomber task forces, fighters and future rotations of US navy and US army capabilities,” Austin said, adding that the specific details would be worked out by officials and announced at a later date.

The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, will join Marles and Austin for a first meeting of the Aukus defence ministers on Thursday.

The agreement was finalized during a joint U.S.-Australia meeting that included Austin and his defense minister counterpart from Canberra.

"Based upon today's talks, we will increase the rotational presence of U.S. forces in Australia," Austin said at a press conference at the State Department. "That includes rotations of bomber task forces, fighters and future rotations of U.S. Navy and U.S. Army capabilities."

The increased military presence in Australia comes after the U.S. and U.K. announced in September 2021 that they had agreed to school the Australians on the "extremely sensitive" technology of nuclear-powered submarines. The U.S. had previously shared the technology only with the British.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles meet their US counterparts in Washington, discussing the rise of China in the Pacific as well as Australia's defence "capability gap". 

At a joint press conference after the talks, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the increased military cooperation would result in an "increased rotational presence of US forces in Australia". 

"That includes rotations of bomber task forces, fighters, and future rotations of US Navy and US Army capabilities that will also expand our logistics and sustainment cooperation," he said.

"We'll also continue to find ways to further integrate our defence industrial bases in the years ahead."

American submarines will visit Australia more regularly but Defence Minister Richard Marles has rejected basing them down under to bolster our defences until our nuclear-powered boats hit the water.

Mr Marles is planning to use this week’s first meeting of AUKUS defence ministers to lock in the key planks of Australia’s nuclear submarine plan before it is unveiled early next year.

But he said home-porting US submarines in Australia was “not the answer” to covering any capability gap that emerged before our boats were in service.

This week’s AUSMIN meeting between Australian and US defence and foreign affairs ministers is also likely to lock in an expanded US Marine rotation in Darwin, and potentially the deployment of more US aircraft including nuclear-capable B-52 bombers.

Visiting senior US military officers believe Australia is a "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow", as they eye off this continent's "prime" geography for future space operations.

General Shaw has warned a conflict in space in the next few years is a very real prospect, saying potential adversaries have already shown they can successfully shoot down satellites.

Australia's own Defence Space Command was only formally stood up in March, but General Armagno says this country already has the natural advantage of its southern-hemisphere geography and potential launch sites close to the equator.