US military presence in Australia to expand

The United States and Australia have agreed to expand the US military presence in Australia and speed up defence cooperation, both governments said after talks in Washington.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles agreed to accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, strengthen combined logistics cooperation and build greater interoperability through joint exercises, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon said they also discussed progress on defence industrial cooperation to support shared capacity for guided weapons and next-generation capabilities.

Australia does not allow foreign military bases on its soil, but hosts US Marines for six-month exercises in Darwin. A rotating force of US-commanded submarines is expected to arrive in Western Australia next year.

Marles told journalists the expanding cooperation also covered logistics, air forces, cyber and space. He said Australia was responding to what he called “the biggest conventional military build-up by any country in the world since the Second World War in the form of China”.

“We need to be ensuring that we build deterrence, that we build balance, so that we can provide for the peace and stability of the region in which we live,” Marles said.

Among the areas of cooperation are US Marine Corps plans for a crisis-ready stockpile in Australia, AFP reported in June.

Australia has reshaped its defence force in recent years to focus on missile strike capability and deterrence from its northern approaches. It is also pursuing nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom, though critics have said the deal does not guarantee Australia will receive the submarines.