In 2021 the AUSMIN communiqué agreed to ‘establish a combined logistics, sustainment, and maintenance enterprise to support high-end warfighting and combined military operations in the region’. The location wasn’t specified, but look at a map. It won’t be Hobart.

Just south of Darwin the US is installing a fuel farm planned by September 2023 to hold over 300 million litres of military jet fuel. Although the government is reluctant to say what is in prospect, it’s obvious the Americans are going to be here in much larger numbers soon.

This all points to a need for a radical rethink about Darwin’s role in the defence of Australia and what we need to do to rebuild our threadbare military infrastructure across the north. The PLA threat is pushing south, and we need a response to it.

I understand the prime minister doesn’t want a new defence white paper or a national security strategy. There’s a view that written policies constrain freewheeling decision-making. So be it, but something must be done to instil a disciplined focus around Defence’s strategic planning, jolting it away from its fantasies about the late 2030s and towards the tough realities of today.

When there’s no time left to change the structure of the military, the need is to look instead at force posture

Experts say a new port could replace the USA military’s main fuelling station in the Pacific region after the closure of a storage facility at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

The federal budget allocated $1.5 billion to build “new port infrastructure, such as a wharf, an offloading facility and dredging of the shipping channel” in the Northern Territory.

Infrastructure Department Secretary Simon Atkinson told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday the new port would be built at Middle Arm in Darwin Harbour.

The government has been in discussion with Defence officials for five months, the hearing was told, and the new port would be open to naval ships as well as private industry for minerals exports and energy exports.

Australian National University professor of defence studies, John Blaxland, said the USA would “no doubt” be looking to locations such as Darwin to bolster its fuel storage.

“It’s not unreasonable to say that additional facilities in and around Darwin will be dual-roled, they will be available for use by US forces,” Professor Blaxland said.

“Darwin is a frequently visited port for US warships transiting from East Coast USA to the Middle East, through the Pacific, across the Indian Ocean, as well as visits from the Seventh Fleet based in Japan.”

The USA military’s massive Red Hill facility, which stored 950 million litre of fuel in underground tanks, was closed down earlier this month due to groundwater contamination.

Up to 2200 US personnel will participate in the Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D), conducting crisis response exercises, engage with regional partners and more.

For the first time, US Army personnel will also deploy to work alongside the rotation.

MRF-D Commanding Officer Colonel Christopher Steele was excited for the rotation to begin.

“This year our Marines will be coming from Camp Pendleton in Southern California as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force assumes this mission, working alongside our US Army and Australian Defence Force counterparts,” he said.

The Marines are expected to complete the rotation in Australia by October 2022.

A contingent of up to 2,200 U.S. Marines has begun arriving for a six-month rotation to Australia’s northern city of Darwin.

During their 11th deployment to Darwin since 2012, Marines will train with the Australian troops and other friendly forces to respond to a crisis in the region, the Marines said in their statement.

The force includes a command element from the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, with most Marines coming from Southern California. They’re supported by a detachment from U.S. Army Pacific, the statement said.

Up to 2,200 Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., will be in Darwin until the rotation wraps up in October, according to a statement from the Australia Defence Department.

The Marines are restricted to their Australian bases for their first seven days and then tested for COVID-19

The 2022 MRF-D will see up to 2200 US personnel conduct combined training with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) including crisis response exercises and engagement with regional partners.

This year, for the first time, US Army personnel will deploy to work alongside and support the MRF-D.

The US Marines are expected to complete the rotation in Australia in October 2022.

MRF-D is one of the United States Force Posture Initiatives that sits alongside an expanded program of Enhanced Air Cooperation between the Royal Australian Air Force and United States Air Force.

The procedures for managing MRF-D’s arrival, border entry protocols and possible cases of COVID-19 have been developed and agreed in full consultation with NT Health authorities :|