Page 92 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

92 AIRPOWER RAAF TINDAL
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
RAAF TINDAL TO BECOME A FOCAL POINT FOR REGIONAL AIRPOWER
The Commonwealth is in the midst of an $8 billion investment into Defence facilities across the Northern Territory, as the strategic importance of northern Australia continues to grow.
ROYA GHODSI | SYDNEY
ONE of the Territory’s most important Defence sites is RAAF Base Tindal, located 15 kilometres outside Katherine and 320 kilometres south-east of Darwin. Currently, the base is the permanent home to a single RAAF F-35A stealth fighter squadron and regularly hosts US forces on training deployments in the region.
There are a number of infrastructure projects at various stages of progress at Tindal, scheduled for completion from 2023 through to 2027, which will sustain the base’s current operations as well as enhance its capability into the future, including in support of an increased rotational presence of US forces.
To upgrade ageing base infrastructure and support access for American aircraft, the RAAF Base Tindal Redevelopment Stage 6 and US Force Posture Initiatives Airfield Works are being delivered as a combined program of works with a value of $1.17 billion, scheduled for completion in 2027.
The base is also a recipient of works associated with ca- pability acquisition programs: namely, works to support the RAAF’s new F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (Air 6000), new Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton uncrewed aircraft (Air 7000 Phase 1B) and new P-8A Poseidon air- craft (Air 7000 Phase 2B).
RAAF BASE TINDAL REDEVELOPMENT STAGE 6
Of the $1.17 billion committed to upgrading RAAF Base Tindal, $437 million will provide critical base infra- structure upgrades, such as engineering services on the base including power, water, and sewage, as well as 108 new live-in units for Australian Defence Force person- nel. Construction of these works commenced in Septem- ber 2020.
Electrical infrastructure work will see upgrades to key elements of the system, replacement of the Central Emer-