While the B-52s have been flying in the north of Australia for decades,their operations were stepped up in 2012 as part of aUS-Australia program called the Enhanced Air Cooperation initiative. This agreement has also covereddeployments of United States Air ForceB2 bombers to RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland in mid-2022.
Therefore,stories in the media over the past 48 hours about enhanced infrastructure for basing B-52s in northern Australia should not surprise anyone with even a passing interest in defence issues. There are,however,several issues associated with this potential basing of USAF bombers Down Under.
It is possible that the presence of the bombers may result in tensions with our northern neighbours,particularly Indonesia. As a non-aligned country,it is very sensitive to the deployment of combat power from external nations into their area of interest. There wereIndonesian concerns about the Australia-US agreement to deploy marines to Darwin a decade ago. It is likely that there will be similar concern now. However,given the threat posed by China and likely behind-the-scenes briefings to the Indonesians by senior Australian military officials,this tension should be manageable.
A second concern could be that these bombers make us a target in any conflict. The reality is that we have hosted critical US capabilities,such as Pine Gap and US forces on exercises,for decades. It is an accepted part of a responsible government’s calculus when it makes decisions about our national security.
There is no zero-risk way to defend Australia. The extraordinary level of capability provided to the Australian Defence Force by the US hugely outweighs threats of being targets in a war. That said,enhancing the air and missile defence of RAAF Base Tindal,and other critical defence bases,should be a priority.