The US military is planning a permanent war-ready weapons depot for its Marine Corps on Australia’s southeast coast beyond the range of most Chinese missiles, tender documents show, and officials confirm that AFP.
The development of the depots, a first for the Marine Corps in Australia, comes as the US is keen to take advantage of the continent’s strategic location in the South Pacific to counter China’s rapid military build-up, analysts said.
The US Marines Corps began global prepositioning of military supplies during the Cold War – using floating warehouses on ships and caves in Norway, where weapons, ammunition and vehicles to sustain thousands of troops are stored.
The first onshore storage facility in the Asia-Pacific is expected to open this year in the Philippines, close to potential flashpoints in the South China Sea.
Documents released by the US Navy this month show advanced planning for an even bigger Australian warehouse, with $30 million set aside to build warehouses and offices in the south-eastern state of Victoria for “critical forward delivery”.
The Australian warehouse, expected to reach full capacity in 2028, will be stored in Melbourne before being moved to US warehouses to be built next year at an Australian military base in Bandiana in rural Victoria, tender documents show.
Australia does not allow foreign military bases on its soil, a sensitive issue in a country that has a security alliance with the United States and hosts a growing selection of US forces on rotation at Australian defense bases.
The US Navy is engaging a global defense contractor to hire about 110 engineers, mechanics, materials and security specialists to manage the Australian stockpile, which includes “crew-operated weapons”, the documents show.
“Marine Corps operations in Australia support integrated global sustainment by maintaining ready-to-issue equipment and supplies for operations and exercises across the Indo-Pacific,” a US Marine Corps Forces Pacific spokesman said. AFP.
The spokesman declined to comment on contract details or force planning assumptions, but said the Marines’ equipment is being kept on “high alert.”
Contract agreements and the operation of the facility would be made in close coordination with Australia’s Ministry of Defence.
“These activities enhance responsiveness, strengthen interoperability with allies and partners, and support a range of missions across the Indo-Pacific,” the spokesman said, using an alternative description for the Asia-Pacific region.
US Army trucks were left at the Bandiana base in 2023 after an Australian war game involving US troops held every two years. The Marine depot at Bandiana, approved last July, is separate.
“Marine Corps and Army equipment programs are designed to support their respective service requirements and are managed under separate authorities and processes,” the Marine spokesman said.
Australia’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Beyond China’s missiles?
The Pentagon has asked Congress for $500 million next year to improve prepositioning of equipment and fuel throughout the Asia-Pacific to deter China.
About 2,000 US Marines conduct exercises six months a year on the opposite coast of Australia in the northern city of Darwin.
A report by the Lowy Institute think tank this week warned that China has the capacity to attack northern Australia with ballistic missiles deployed from its outposts in the South China Sea.
The director of international security, Sam Roggeveen, said this AFP that it was likely to be a “relevant consideration” in locating a warehouse in Australia’s south-east.
“Once these facilities are operational, they would be obvious targets for China,” he said.
The growth of US forces and equipment in Australia is “a major change in Australian policy that ties Australia much more closely to US strategic objectives in the region”, Roggeveen said.
Professor of international security at the Australian National University, John Blaxland, said the country’s location is being viewed with “a growing sense of importance” due to concerns over the vulnerability of the US military base on Guam.
“As the competition for influence in the Indo-Pacific has reached its highest level in over a generation, it is not surprising that the US Marines may look to Australia to enable such containment,” he said.
“Barring a massive increase in Australian defense spending, for which there is little political appetite, it is widely regarded as the most prudent approach to promoting US investment in Australian real estate.”
