Fewer than half as many U.S. Marines than originally planned will rotate to Australia’s Northern Territory for a training mission this summer that was cut short by the coronavirus, according to the Australian Minister of Defence.

The Marine Corps on May 5 announced the resumption of the rotation to the northern Australian city of Darwin. It had been scheduled to begin in March but was delayed following an order that month from Defense Secretary Mark Esper barring nearly all official movement overseas for Defense Department personnel.

“The modified rotation will involve around 1,200 Marines who will exercise exclusively at Defence training areas in the Northern Territory until September,” the Australian Ministry of Defence said in a statement Thursday.

Fifty-four Marines who arrived in Darwin in an advance party in March have already gone through a 14-day quarantine and begun training with their Australian counterparts.

The first group of additional Marines will disembark at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin in early June, beginning the Australian component of a detailed quarantine and testing regime, the Australian statement said. “They will then be screened and tested for COVID-19 upon arrival in Australia, before being quarantined for 14 days at specially prepared Defence facilities in the Darwin area,” the statement said.

Initially postponed due to coronavirus, the deployment of US Marines to the Top End is back on, but questions remain about how many are coming, when they'll arrive or where they'll be treated if any contract COVID-19.

Around 2,500 Marines were expected to arrive in Darwin in early April as part of an annual rotation to the Top End that has taken place since 2012.

But the risk of spreading COVID-19 into the Territory and its vulnerable remote Aboriginal communities was considered too great at the time.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds today informed US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper the military contingent had now been given approval.

The size and date of the deployment have yet to be determined, although the Marines usually stay in the Top End throughout the dry season. NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner welcomed Ms Reynolds' announcement and said local businesses would get a "massive boost" by having the Marines in the Top End.

Fifty-four Marines, the advance party of what was to be a 2,500-strong summer rotational force Down Under, were placed in quarantine last month to guard against transmission of the coronavirus.

just like Mandela...

Fifty-four Marines, the advance party of what was to be a 2,500-strong summer rotational force Down Under, were placed in quarantine last month to guard against transmission of the coronavirus.

just like Mandela...

Leathernecks often say if it's not raining, they're not training. The next time thousands of them deploy to Australia's Northern Territory, that could very much be true.

The Marine Corps announced this week that it would delay an annual rotation Down Under due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of California- and Hawaii-based Marines -- along with MV-22 Ospreys, AH-1Z Vipers, UH-1Y Venoms and RQ-21 Blackjacks -- were scheduled to deploy to Darwin this spring.

The Marine Corps is still sending vehicles and other supplies to Australia in anticipation of the rotation happening this year. Australian authorities have strict quarantine and inspection requirements.