US push for NT air base
By LINCOLN WRIGHT November 23, 2003
THE United States is set to build B1 and B2 bomber bases in the Northern Territory. The Sunday Territorian has learnt a tank base is also part of a plan to use the Territory as a staging point for a new US sphere of influence stretching from India to Japan. US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld told Defence Minister Robert Hill about the plan in Washington last week. Top level Pentagon documents reveal the US wants to project its power across South Asia to counter potential rogue states with weapons of mass destruction. ``The distances are vast in the Asian theatre,'' the Pentagon report said. The Pentagon is concerned about a shortfall of US bases and has put a ``premium'' on getting new toeholds. But the Pentagon proposal has angered Indonesia. Officially, Indonesia's vice-consul in Darwin, Arif Soepalal, said Jakarta did not have a formal position on an American base. But Indonesian sources have indicated privately Jakarta would be unhappy with any attempt to build a US base in Darwin.
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``The possibility exists that a military competitor with a formidable resource base will emerge in the region,'' the Pentagon paper said. ``The East Asian littoral _ from the Bay of Bengal to the Sea of Japan _ represents a challenging area.''
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http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7951116%255E13569,00.html
Hill, Rumsfeld talk over military bases
By Tom Allard, Defence Reporter November 19, 2003 The Australian and US governments have confirmed they are holding talks about building new military training facilities in Australia as part of a push to more closely integrate the two nations' armed forces. The revelation came after the Herald reported on a US proposal for a "logistics and training facility" in northern Australia where supplies and equipment, including tanks, would be housed and exercises undertaken by US and Australian forces. The option is understood to be linked to a US push for Australia to buy its M1-Abrams tanks, although US defence sources said the plan for the facility in the Northern Territory could still go ahead if Australia opted to buy lighter tanks from Germany or Britain. The US - which says the staging post would not be permanently staffed by American troops and could not be described as a base - is reviewing its force structure in the Asia-Pacific region amid mounting anger in Japan and South Korea about its large military presence in those countries.
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An analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Aldo Borgu, questioned the wisdom of buying the heavy Abrams tanks, which would be unsuitable for use in the South Pacific and South-East Asia, where roads are often primitive.
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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/18/1069027128097.html