Pete Hegseth reaffirms US intent to invest North Australian air bases
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says more US bombers will be able to rotate through the Northern Territory once critical upgrades are completed.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says more US bombers will be able to rotate through the Northern Territory once critical upgrades are completed.
Mr Hegseth made his desires known ahead of the 40th AUSMIN meeting in Washington on Monday morning local time.
His comments have been welcomed by Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro.
The meeting was organised to allow himself, Senator Penny Wong, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss various strategic objectives in the Indo-Pacific region, including the progress of AUKUS and missile production.
When the four politicians faced the media, Mr Hegseth dived straight into his priorities.
“First on force posture initiatives, we’re upgrading critical infrastructure on air bases in Queensland and the Northern Territory,” he said.
“That allows for additional US bomber rotations.”
Only one Australia city was name-dropped across the entire 13-minute press conference.
“We’re upgrading logistics and infrastructure in Darwin so more US Marines can do rotational deployments and pre-position MV-22 Ospreys,” he said.
“This establishes new and resilient logistics networks across Australia.”
Mr Hegseth also reaffirmed US support to help Australia produce its own guided weapons, such as GMLRS and precision strike missiles.
“And we’re working towards co-production and co-sustainment of hypersonic attack cruise missiles, co-sustainment (of) air-to-air missiles, (and) cooperative programs across the board, including Mark 54 torpedoes.”
The final initiative he spoke to was AUKUS.
“Full steam ahead on AUKUS,” he said.
“We applaud Australia’s upcoming delivery of $1 billion to help expand US submarine production capacity.
“We’re strengthening AUKUS so that is work for America, for Australia and for the UK.”
Mr Marles welcomed his counterpart’s comments.
“Part of what we have sought to do in the defence space is to increase the US footprint in Australia,” he said.
“And this AUSMIN will be no different, as Pete (Hegseth) has just taken you through - be it infrastructure, which enables greater bomber rotations in Australia or be it what we are doing in terms of enhancing logistics capability of the United States in Australia, or having American equipment stored in Australia (such) as the Ospreys.
“These are just examples of what we are doing across every domain: air, sea and ground but also space and cyber, to have the most extensive American force posture that we have seen in terms of the bread of that in the Australian continent.”
The AUSMIN meeting comes less than two months after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jetted to the White House to personally sit down with President Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the quick follow-up was no coincidence.
“We felt very strongly after that that we have real momentum,” he said.
“We wanted to do this here before the end of the year to continue to build on that alliance and that momentum.”
Upon learning of Mr Hegseth’s comments, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said she welcomed continued US military interest in the NT capital.
“Defence is a key pillar to rebuilding the Territory, and the Marine Rotational Force has become a significant contributor to our community and economy,” she said.
“With the Indo-Pacific activity centred here, the case for expanded infrastructure, sustainment, and long-term capability investment in the NT is clear.
“We will continue to work with the Australian Government and allied partners to drive more activity, more investment and more opportunity for Territorians.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Pete Hegseth reaffirms US intent to invest North Australian air bases
Join the conversation
Charges laid over alleged broken bottle DV assault
Read more
‘Hardly knew her’: Pratts claim half-sister already got $57m, not on tombstone
Read more