Page 45 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2023

APRIL 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE IN THE NORTH NORTHERN BASES 45
LEFT: US Marines from Marine Rotational Force-Darwin 22 brace while an MV-22 Osprey takes off during an air assault at Yampi Sound during Exercise Koolendong 2022
As part of the EAC activities, Tindal’s runway is being lengthened by 610m to 3,353m and widened by 3m to 10.5m, along with the realignment, extension and widening of a par- allel taxiway to cater for the influx of large military aircraft.
These include RAAF KC-30As and the deployment of US Air Force B-1B and B-52H strategic bombers.
Additions to infrastructure upgrades already funded by the Commonwealth to support the F-35As of the RAAF’s 75 Squadron will include hangars, maintenance and storage facilities, a 24 million litre fuel farm and aircraft parking apron and connecting taxiway to accommodate the RAAF’s MQ-4C Tritons from 2025.
New facilities at RAAF Darwin support KC-30A and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol operations and a new apron ac- commodates deployed US B-1B and B-52H bombers. Under the EAC the US has also established a $76 million bulk fuel storage facility at the base to support fu-
ture deployments.
This is separate to construction of a
$270 million bulk storage facility at the Port of Darwin’s East Arm contracted by the US Defence Logistics Agency- Energy to support US operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
“NONE OF THE AIR CAPABILITY PROJECTS EITHER UNDERWAY OR KNOWN TO BE AWAITING APPROVAL INCLUDE HARDENING AGAINST ATTACK”
RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal to accommodate deploy- ments of US strategic bombers and other assets.
AIR BASE REDEVELOPMENT
Around $727 million of upgrade works are being carried out under the EAC at Tindal between now and 2027 and these will sustain the base’s current operations as well as enhance its capability into the future.
To upgrade ageing base infrastructure and support ac- cess for an increased rotational presence of US forces, De- fence’s Tindal Redevelopment Stage 6 and EAC work are being combined to deliver a $1.17 billion combined program of works scheduled for completion in late 2027.
None of the air capability projects either underway or known to be awaiting approval include hardening against attack, notwithstanding the long-range strike capabilities of potential adversaries.
In this regard it’s worth referring back to the 2001 “A study in airbase survivability and post-attack recovery” pub- lished by the now-defunct RAAF Aerospace Centre.
“While the (northern) airfields afford the RAAF flexibil- ity, they are vulnerable to attack from the air or by special land forces. Therefore, protective measures must be taken if the integrity of the airfields is to be ensured,” the pre- amble states.
“In terms of manpower and materiel, the cost of defend- ing airfelds is considerable; however, the cost of not de- fending them could undermine the entire northern defence umbrella.”
Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman told ADM recently that Air Force was developing plans to pro- tect bases and critical supply lines, but provided no details of how that was to be achieved, where, or when.
A brief reference in the October 2022-23 Defence Portfo- lio Budget statements disclosed that EA-18G Growler elec-
The facility will store 300 million litres
of aviation-grade fuel in 11 tanks. Con-
struction is scheduled to be completed
in September and fuel management and
storage services will be handled by global
energy and logistics company Crowley
under a multi-year contract with the US logistics agency.
DEFENCE