A US Marine charged with rape while on rotation in the Top End has had his plans to return home to await trial put on ice after being placed on bail in the Darwin Local Court on Friday.

The court heard the 24-year-old — who cannot be named before being committed to stand trial — had been issued with a notice to appear after the charge was laid on May 1.

But prosecutor Rhiannon McGlinn said her office had requested the case be relisted a day before his Marine Corps contract was due to lapse to ask that he be placed on bail instead.

In granting bail, Mr Neill ordered the man to live at the Defence Establishment Berrimah and not travel more than 100km from Darwin while surrendering his travel documents and steering clear of the airport.

A US Marine appeared in court after being charged with rape, charges he will seek to contest.

The man appeared in the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He was joined in court by members of his marine corps.

The case returns for a preliminary examination mention on July 3, where the defendant is excused.

A US Marine who allegedly raped a young woman before conspiring with a fellow jarhead to cover it up has faced the first day of his trial alongside his “friend and gym buddy”.

Lester Rodriguez Turcios pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to rape, aggravated assault and attempting and conspiring to pervert the course of justice, while fellow marine Juan Martinezjaramillo pleaded not guilty to conspiracy.

In his opening address to jurors on Monday, Crown prosecutor Damien Jones quoted directly from the 19-year-old alleged victim following the incident on May 27 last year.

“I woke up to him pushing himself inside me, I had no underwear on, I was like ‘uh, what the f--k?’, I’ve tried pushing him off me quite a bit but he had kind of pinned me down."

The woman reported the alleged assault six days later and police asked Martinezjaramillo to make a statement as a potential witness on June 21. Investigators also obtained a warrant to seize Turcios’ mobile phone, which revealed conversations between the two marines “as to what was going to be said in the interview”.

Military activity in the Territory is set to soar, with more than one thousand Marines arriving in the Top End for the 13th rotation of Marine Rotational Force - Darwin.

On Friday, Marines got a taste for the Top End’s conditions as they stepped onto the airstrip tarmac.

The new rotation’s Commanding Officer Colonel Brian Mulvihill said his troops were “excited” to get started.

ADF Commanding Officer Headquarters Northern Command, Captain Mitchell Livingstone, said the next eight months would involve high-end training.

“I’m pleased to welcome the 13th iteration of MRF-D to the Top End,” he said.

“These rotations not only help build interoperability between the ADF and the US, but also serve to increase regional cooperation with partner nations in the Indo-Pacific.

“Over the next eight months, the ADF and USMC will conduct a comprehensive range of training activities, including humanitarian assistance, security operations, and live-fire exercises, all of which better prepare our forces to respond effectively to contingencies that may arise.”

U.S. Marines have returned to northern Australia as part of a six-month training tour across the South Pacific that will also include drills in the Philippines and Indonesia.

They’ll be supported by Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 out of Hawaii flying MV-22 B Osprey aircraft.

Ospreys began flying again this month after being grounded following the Nov. 29 crash of an Air Force Osprey off the coast of Japan that killed eight airmen. An Osprey crash in Australia in August killed three Marines attached to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 during last year’s rotation to the Northern Territory.

In Australia, the Marines will join numerous training events, including Southern Jackaroo, which typically involves Japanese troops; Bhakti Kanyini AUSINDO, which involved Indonesian forces last year; and the aviation-focused Pitch Black, Diamond Storm and HELICON LUK.