Why Australia is Key to the U.S. Military’s New Asia Strategy | WSJ

(suspenseful music) - I am traveling into Australia's remote Northern territories, riding with the US Marines as they deploy into over half a million square miles of outback. (wind blows) (suspenseful music continues) As tensions between the US and China continue to increase, America is sending thousands of troops to Australia and building infrastructure at key locations in the country. In a strategy to prepare for a potential war over Taiwan, the US is increasing its military presence here to a level not seen since World War II.

The US and China have described Taiwan as the region's most volatile flashpoint. Taiwan is regarded by China as part of its territory, and Beijing is vowed to take control of the island by force if necessary. President Biden has said the US would intervene militarily if that happened, potentially bringing America and China into direct conflict.

Australia's geography offers advantages for the US. Lying outside the range of most Chinese missiles, the country has been compared to an unsinkable US aircraft carrier. (classical music) We're flying into the Northern Australian outback where we're gonna go visit a Australian airbase where the US is spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade infrastructure as it beefs up its footprint in the region.

Tindal is one of those sites, an airbase that will soon be able to host up to six B-52 bombers, long-range aircraft that can carry nuclear weapons. The runways and facilities here are being significantly expanded, making Tindal one of the only bases in the region able to host B-52s. Officials say bombers will soon begin making more frequent deployments here.

It's part of an effort to turn Northern Australia into a strategic hub for US forces. Australia's size allows the US to spread its facilities across a vast area. American Marines and fighter aircraft operate from bases in the North.

US military equipment is being stored over 2000 miles away in the South, and American nuclear submarines will soon start rotating through a naval base on the West Coast. Should war breakout, the US can send these forces to its network of bases spread throughout the region. (missile blasts) The work has taken on a new urgency as concerns grow over China's frequent military exercises around Taiwan.

- We're up here in Darwin right now, and that's where the Marine air ground task force for MRF-D deploys for about six months. - [Mike] Colonel Mulvihill commands a contingent of around 2000 American Marines in Australia. In the event of a conflict, these troops would be deployed to areas within the range of China's missiles, aircraft, and ships.

- And nobody wants a war with China. So how do these forces deter and bring stability to the region? It's really our main focus.

The key is to balance your lethality with your survivability. We've been fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for over a decade, and the tactics that we applied there just don't apply to the modern battle space. So distributed operations, those forces are more survivable, because they have a smaller signature management.

Physically, electromagnetically, they're harder for our adversaries to find. (chopper roars) - [Mike] We traveled with the Marines deep into the outback to see how they are fine-tuning a strategy seen as critical to fighting China in its neighborhood. (chopper roars) (Marines chatter) - Go up, go up, go up, go up, go, go.

- In a conflict scenario, teams of Marines would move forward as far and as fast as possible. Their deployment in small fanned-out units requires developing nimble resupply tactics. Behind us is a forward refueling point where they've set up, basically, a temporary gas station for these ospreys.

Dispersing troops and equipment is a tactic designed to make it harder for enemies to detect and take out units in one decisive blow. (chopper roars) America's growing footprint in Australia is part of a broad shift in how the US positions its forces as it seeks to deter China. Any US military action in the region would involve America's large military bases in South Korea, Japan, and Guam, but these bases and their fuel and logistics facilities would likely be targeted by China in the early stages of a conflict.

Any reinforcements being sent from the US West Coast to Asia could take days to arrive. The US plan is to disperse troops and supplies across the region to mitigate this threat. Huge new tanks have been built in Australia's North to allow more American aircraft to refuel.

- The idea of creating infrastructure and to be able to forward posture capabilities is really important for us. The distances from places like Camp Pendleton and even Hawaii are so long that it would be costly and inefficient to constantly bring material and vehicles and even fuel in and out. Our actions, obviously, have strategic implications, and that's why we're regularly rehearsing, bringing those forces in, bringing those capabilities in because Darwin, it's in the Northern territory's strategic terrain.

(suspenseful music) - [Mike] China has warned the US military buildup in Northern Australia could spark an arms race, but the American military continues to beef up its presence here as it shifts to focus on the threat from China. It's a vast effort to prepare for a conflict, unlike any it has fought for decades.