EMAIL DETAILS

>
> I mentioned the joint command and base sharing in June after the
> Australia America leadership Dialogue. This article provides a great
> deal more texture to the scope of the agreement. In addition, there
> are references to the roles of Singapore and India as well - MPA
>
> US forces get nod to share our bases
> Brendan Nicholson From:The Australian November 06, 2010 12:00AM
> Increase Text Size
> Decrease Text Size
> Print
> Email
> Share
>
>
> AUSTRALIA has agreed to a major escalation of military co-operation
> with the US.
>
> This will include more visits by American ships, aircraft and troops
> and their forces exercising here regularly.
>
> Access to Australian Defence Force facilities will allow the US to
> step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region as it comes
> under pressure to wind down its key bases, such as Okinawa, as
> concern grows about China's military expansion.
>
> Increased numbers of US personnel in Australian facilities are
> expected within months, and the tempo of military exercises will be
> stepped up as that happens.
>
> Likely early sites are Townsville, as the primary base for army
> operations, the port of Darwin, the Bradshaw Field Training Area in
> the Northern Territory and HMAS Stirling naval base in Western
> Australia.
>
>
> Related Coverage
> High-level talks to reaffirm faith in US alliance The Australian, 1
> hour ago
> Cyber attacks top of talks agenda The Australian, 1 day ago
> Clinton pokes her nose into New Zealand The Australian, 1 day ago
> Rudd talks up China ties The Australian, 5 days ago
> Rudd gets the big tick from Obama The Australian, 19 Sep 2010
>
> Three big announcements on military and security co-operation will
> be made after Monday's AUSMIN defence and foreign policy talks
> involving delegations headed by US Secretary of State Hillary
> Clinton and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Australia's
> Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith.
>
> Sources close to the talks said this AUSMIN, in Melbourne, would be
> one of the most significant in the summit's 25-year history.
>
> They said US forces would not establish new bases on Australian soil
> but they would be welcomed into existing facilities with the less
> politically risky formula of being given unfettered access to
> "places, not bases".
>
> The agreement will be similar to that covering the joint
> intelligence-gathering facilities such as Pine Gap.
>
> The Americans will not just be offered space on a base - they will
> be there with what Defence calls "full knowledge and concurrence" so
> that they will have a share in all processes, such as access to
> intelligence and maintenance facilities.
>
> The US military may store equipment in Australia to make it easier
> to carry out major exercises here and to allow a faster response in
> humanitarian assistance after disasters in the region. The sharing
> of facilities was seen as the way of the future, the sources said.
> Australian and US forces would be "inter-operable".
>
> The Australian development is part of a new Obama strategy to step
> up the US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region after reviews
> of strategic policy concluded that the Bush government's attempts to
> project power from North America were not working.
>
> As US planners looking for ways to move forces around the world more
> effectively broke the globe down into regions, Australian officials
> worked closely with them on the Asia-Pacific.
>
> It is understood the US will also increase co-operation with other
> regional allies, including Singapore and India.
>
> Monday's announcements will include a new system to help identify
> and "map" objects in space over the southern hemisphere, ranging
> from space junk to satellites and incoming ballistic missiles.
> "That's becoming of more interest since North Korea began missile
> test launches on a southern trajectory," the sources said. That
> system could be set up in the Harold E. Holt Naval Communication
> Station in the northwest of Western Australia, which the US already
> uses to keep contact with its submarines.
>
> The third leg of the AUSMIN communique will confirm a plan for much
> closer co-operation on ways to prevent attacks on cyber systems
> crucial to modern economies and military systems, and to find out
> where the attacks originate.
>
> Sources said that along with the increased US diplomatic effort to
> engage in the region was a stronger US military presence.
>
> "They're back with a much stronger presence," one said.
>
> Mr Rudd yesterday set out for the first time since taking over his
> portfolio how his goal of an Asia-Pacific community to disarm
> security threats was now being achieved through the likely inclusion
> of the US in the East Asia Summit or ASEAN.
>
> "Now we've just got to make it work," Mr Rudd said.
>
> Australia had pushed hard to have the US bring New Zealand "in from
> the cold" and that was happening, Mr Rudd said.
>
> His comments came as Mrs Clinton concluded a two-day visit to New
> Zealand to repair a decades-long rift between the two countries.
>
> Mr Rudd said AUSMIN was likely to address common global and regional
> interests, including Afghanistan, Iran, the Asia-Pacific, and the
> current US review of its military forces.
>
> "AUSMIN occurs at a time when the Asia-Pacific, for the first time,
> becomes the central strategic theatre for the world for the 21st
> century," Mr Rudd said.
>
> Print
> Email
>