‘Hit Darwin within 90 minutes’: Defence expert’s grim warning

Former defence secretary Mike Pezzullo has sounded the alarm about Russia’s real reasons for trying to get a foothold in Indonesia’s military base.

Exclusive: Russian TU 95 bombers would be able to hit Darwin within 90 minutes if they were allowed to use an Indonesia’s military base at Biak, a defence expert warns.

Cruise missiles fired from the base 1300km north of Australia would also allow Russia to attack US military bases in Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

Russia’s request for access to Indonesia’s Biak military base has caused a political firestorm in the lead up to Saturday’s Federal election.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused Peter Dutton’s request for a security briefing on the matter, which prompted opposition defence minister Andrew Hastie to accuse Mr Albanese of being “deceptive and evasive” on the issue and was “failing a crucial character test”.

A Russian TU-95 bomber arrives on Biak Island in Indonesia for an international visit. Picture: Russian Defense Ministry

Defence Minister Richard Marles’ office has hit back saying “there was no prospect of any Russian aircraft operating out of Indonesia.”

Indonesia’s government denied the request, but the Kremlin’s ambassador to Jakarta, Sergi Tolchenov, this week said Russia was “looking for many possibilities for military co-operation” with Indonesia.

Former defence secretary Mike Pezzullo has sounded the alarm about Russia’s real reasons for trying to get a foothold in Indonesia’s military base.

“My suspicion is that one of the reasons of why they would try to get down there particularly if it came to conflict in the Pacific is that if the Russian leadership at the time decided to ally with China if there was god forbid a war in the Pacific, having access to Indonesia makes the American operations particularly out of Guam very challenging,” he said.

Defence expert and former chief of the Department of Home Affairs Mike Pezzullo. Picture: Martin Ollman

“You’d have a situation if they were down at Biak they could take off, launch long range cruise or ballistic or hypersonic missiles and the flight time to a place like Guam or any other base in that part of the central Pacific is considerably shorter.

“If you’re flying out of Vladivostok or that far north you are easier to detect a long way out.”

Russia made a request to use the base in February, which Indonesia denied. However it landed TU 95 bombers in Biak in 2017.

A cruise missile can fly at almost 900km per hour, skimming across the ocean surface making it difficult to detect via radar.

Defence Minister Richard Marles’ office has hit back saying “there was no prospect of any Russian aircraft operating out of Indonesia.” Picture: David Caird

That would mean that a TU 95, the equivalent of the US B-52 aircraft, could hit American marines based in Darwin within 90 minutes.

The same missiles could hit Guam, 1800km from Biak across open ocean, in about two hours.

Mr Pezzullo insisted that he was speaking only about open source information, and not classified intelligence.

When asked about the possibility of a cruise missile being with 90 minutes of attacking Darwin, Mr Marles’ office said: “Since coming to government, the Albanese Government has … delivered key milestones with AUKUS, we are doubling the size of our Navy’s surface combatant fleet and we are acquiring long-range capabilities sooner while making record investments so that we can build long-range missiles here in Australia.”

Originally published as ‘Hit Darwin within 90 minutes’: Defence expert’s grim warning