The U.S. military is moving forward with plans to keep a permanent, ready-to-fight arsenal on the southeast coast of Australia. The logistics base will be the first of its kind for the Marines on the continent to have a permanent land-based stockpile, according to the recently released tender documents and official confirmation to AFP.

Experts say this significant move is an “insightful strategy” by the United States Department of Defense to exploit Australia’s strategic position in the South Pacific. The main goal is to create a solid base of logistics security, which is able to effectively neutralise China’s aggressive military expansion across the region.

Strategic Positioning and Integrated Global Sustainment

The U.S. has made the deliberate choice of the southernmost state of Victoria to position these key facilities well out of the range of most conventional Chinese ballistic missiles. The tropical northern coast is nearer to potential flash points, but this southern site is a strategic rear guard to maintain and survive in a large-scale regional conflict.

According to the tender documents that were submitted to the United States Navy, the project calls for the construction of specialized warehouses and operational offices that will be worth $30 million. The equipment will be initially stored in Melbourne and later moved to the Bandiana military base in rural Victoria for permanent storage. The facility will be fully operational by 2028.

Stockpile Contents: Critical ‘crew-served weapons,’ heavy ammunition, and combat support equipment will be stored in the warehouses.

Operational Staffing: A worldwide defence contractor has been contracted to provide some 110 civilian engineers, mechanics, and material specialists to carefully oversee the forward-provisioned equipment. 

If a crisis situation arises, they can quickly fly in, be equipped with freshly cleaned, ready-to-use equipment and go to the fight.

A spokesman for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific said the activities of the U.S. Marine Corps in Australia enable integrated global sustainment, the support of equipment and supplies ready for issue to Marine operations and exercises all over the Indo-Pacific.

The U.S. operations will be conducted from within a local base, with the Government of Australia very strict on the presence of a foreign military base on its territory. There will be a close-knit partnership between the various contracting and facility operations and the Australian Department of Defence, which will ensure seamless interoperability and readiness between the allied nations on a day-to-day basis.