By Guo Yuandan
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on October 31 that the US plans to deploy six B-52 bombers capable of nuclear strikes in north Australia, which military experts said would turn Australia into America’s frontline military base and threaten its security by tying itself, which could have been far away from the flames of war, onto the chariot of major-country competition.
An ABC column said Washington is planning to build special facilities for the large bombers at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Tindal in south Darwin. The US has already deployed four B-52s at Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) in Guam earlier on.
B-52 bombers can carry long-distance assault nuclear weapons and conventional weapons, which the US Air Force believed will show the enemies America’s ability to launch lethal power projection.
According to military expert Zhang Xuefeng, American bombers were previously mainly deployed in Guam to exert strategic deterrence in the Asian Pacific direction. It even has a specific policy on sustained bomber presence, whereby B-52, B-1B and B-2 are deployed in Guam in turns. But later Washington thought it was not flexible enough to deploy bombers in Guam only because of the “Guam Killer”. That’s why it turned its eyes to Australia.
It’s worth noting that two B-2 stealth bombers were deployed in Australia for the first time in July 2022. For over a month, they operated side by side with the RAAF fleets as well as some fleets of the Australian Army and Royal Navy.
America’s intention of dispatching B-2 and B-52 bombers is all too clear – it wants to turn Australia into a new bomber fortress, said Zhang Xuefeng. If necessary, US warplanes can take off from Australia, join with the bombers in Guam, and they will enter East Asia in different directions, thus acquiring greater flexibility. Besides, a military base in Australia would be much safer given the host country’s long distance from Asia.
According to another military expert Song Zhongping, there are three types of US military bases – ones based on its homeland (or rear area), ones based in Guam and Australia serving as relay bases, and ones based in Japan and ROK serving as frontline bases. The deployment of B-52 in Australia has turned the country from a relay base into a frontline base.
“Doing so, the US has tied Australia, which could have stayed well away from the flames of war, onto the chariot of major country competition. That does no good to Australia’s national security,” said Zhang, adding that instead of protecting Australia, B-52 would instead draw fire to it. After all, it’s not that hard to also develop an “Australia Killer”.
ABC mentioned in its report dated October 31 that the US is also increasing its military presence in Australia by secretly expanding the Pine Gap base. It is generally known that Pine Gap has always paid close attention to China, making it its top priority to tap the country and detect its military facilities as such intelligence is getting increasingly important for the US.
When asked to comment on America’s deployment of six B-52 bombers in Australia, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at the regular press conference on October 31 that “All countries’ defense and security cooperation needs to contribute to regional peace and stability and must not target any third party or undermine their interests. China urges parties concerned to abandon the outdated Cold War zero-sum mentality and narrow geopolitical mindset, and do more things that are good for regional peace and stability and mutual trust among all parties.”
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
