Australia has agreed to a major escalation of military cooperation with the US including more visits by American ships aircraft and troops and their forces exercising here regularly. Access to Australian Defence Force facilities will allow the US to step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region as it comes under pressure to wind down its key bases such as Okinawa as concern grows about China’s military expansion.
Increased numbers of US personnel in Australian facilities are expected within months and the tempo of military exercises will be stepped up as that happens.
Three big announcements on military and security cooperation have been made after the AUSMIN defence and foreign policy talks involving delegations headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith.
US forces would not establish new bases on Australian soil but they would be welcomed into existing facilities being given unfettered access to ‘places not bases’. The agreement will be similar to that covering the joint intelligence-gathering facilities such as Pine Gap. The Americans will not just be offered space on a base they will be there with ‘full knowledge and concurrence’ so that they will have a share in all processes such as access to intelligence and maintenance facilities.
The US military may store equipment in Australia to make it easier to carry out major exercises here and to allow a faster response in humanitarian assistance after disasters in the region. Australian and US forces would be ‘inter-operable’.
It is part of the Obama strategy to step up the US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. It is understood the US will also increase co-operation with Singapore and India.
The new system will also include a new system to help identify and ‘map’ objects in space over the southern hemisphere ranging from space junk to satellites and incoming ballistic missiles.