B-52 bombers land in Australia as defense chiefs signal larger US footprint Down Under

The U.S. Air Force has announced a rotation of B-52H Stratofortress bombers to northern Australia as civilian defense leaders tout plans to expand America’s military footprint there.

Aircraft from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., landed Tuesday at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal in the Northern Territory, according to images released by Pacific Air Forces.

“We can confirm a U.S. Air Force B-52 Bomber Task Force is underway in Australia,” PACAF said in an unsigned email Thursday evening in Hawaii, adding that the missions “bolster regional security across the region.”

The command declined to provide additional details due to operational security.

The U.S. government has funded extensive upgrades at Tindal, about 200 miles southeast of Darwin, to accommodate the bombers. The upgrades include $100-$140 million for a bomber ramp and $80-$100 million for a hangar, PACAF commander Gen. Kevin Schneider told Stars and Stripes in July 2024.

The bomber task force announcement came ahead of a wide-ranging meeting Wednesday between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Richard Marles, the Australian deputy prime minister and defense minister, at the Pentagon.

“Both leaders agreed to accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, bolster cooperation in combined logistics, and build greater interoperability through joint exercises,” according to a meeting transcript.

An Air Force B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing lands at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, Australia, Sept. 1, 2026. (Megan Harter/U.S. Air Force)

The military uses interoperability to refer to the ability of a country’s armed forces to use another country’s training methods and military equipment.

In Western Australia, preparations are underway for rotations of U.S. and British fast-attack submarines to HMAS Stirling near Perth in 2027 under the AUKUS agreement. AUKUS is the security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

On May 30, the U.S. Navy established Naval Support Activity Stirling and in June reactivated Submarine Squadron 3 to support the rotations.

During the Pentagon meeting, the defense chiefs talked about jointly building more missiles and future weapons so both countries can produce and stock them together.

Australian industry will likely focus on support for the Virginia-class subs, Australian defense researcher Allan Orr said by email Thursday.

An enhanced U.S. presence in Australia may include rotational deployments of larger numbers of American aircraft and a wider range of ships, said Ross Babbage, a former Australian assistant defense secretary.

“Some new U.S. Army deployments are also possible,” he said by email Thursday. “In addition, an expansion of Australian combined arms exercise facilities and weapons ranges is likely in the medium term.”

The U.S. will likely stockpile more equipment and munitions, Babbage said.

“This will probably be linked to an acceleration of programs to manufacture a wider range of priority munitions in Australia for use by US, Australian and other allied forces,” he said.

Australia is now spending 2.8% of gross domestic product on defense, more than most NATO countries, Marles told reporters after the meeting with Hegseth.

“We share a common picture of the complex threat picture in the world today and the need for allies to both plan together, but also ensure our capabilities match and are complementary if and when something were to have to take place,” Hegseth told Marles, according to a transcript of opening remarks.

Neither Hegseth nor Marles named an adversary in their opening remarks, but Marles later told reporters the growing U.S. presence was a response to “the biggest conventional military build-up by any country in the world since the Second World War in the form of China.”