The US Department of Defense confirmed on November 1 that the country will deploy six nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers at Australia’s Tyndall AFB.

It is reported that US DoD has budgeted US$14.4 million for building dedicated parking aprons at Tyndall AFB so that its B-52s can rotate and carry out exercises there every year.

Military observer Liang Yongchun listed three reasons why the US military decides to deploy strategic bombers in Australia.

First, building a military base in Australia, which is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, would connect America's Guam base on the former with the Diego Garcia base on the latter. The B-52 bombers will be able to cruise among the bases in peacetime and perform missions in wartime.

Second, Australia is farther away from China compared with Guam on the second island chain. The US thinks it would be safer to deploy strategic forces there and its military operations would be stealthier.

Third, the cooperative Australian government is renovating several military bases in the north of the country to meet the American military's needs for large-scale operations.

The Australian government said America's deployment of strategic bombers won't increase risks in the region. In another related development, Australia has been catering to America’s tendency to increase military deployments in its north since the Morrison administration by reinforcing the military infrastructure there.

According to Liang Yongchun, Australia is quickly becoming an important military pivot for the US in the Indo-Pacific, which poses security threats to the entire region.

With a range of more than 16,000km, B-52 bombers are capable of performing strategic deterrence patrol and precise nuclear attacks from a long distance at a much lower cost than stealthy bombers. They are the perfect choice for the Americans to showcase their so-called strategic deterrence.

Deploying B-52 strategic bombers in northern Australia will increase the risk of nuclear proliferation, release a dangerous signal, and exacerbate regional tension. Australia’s neighboring countries feeling threatened are sure to take commensurate military countermeasures, which will expose regional peace and stability to a grave risk of damage.

As a contracting party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the US, for the selfish goal of maintaining its global hegemony, is bent on turning Australia into a cat's paw for realizing its geopolitical interests regardless of the risk of nuclear proliferation. What it's doing is not only against the NPT but is contrary to what a responsible country should do in every possible way. 

In the meantime, Australia, as a major economy in the South Pacific, has shown no respect or consideration for the concerns of surrounding countries or for regional peace in trying to introduce America's nuclear weapons. It is reducing itself to be a "source of war and chaos" in the Asia Pacific.

Editor's note: Originally published on military.cnr.cn, 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.