By Rod McGuirk, Associated Press
Christian Science Monitor
Christian Science Monitor
In addition to last year’s agreement to rotate US Marines through Australia, the US and Australia are now cooperating on advanced military space equipment that will help tackle ‘space junk.’
From left, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith, and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta take part in a news conference at the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations, Wednesday, Nov. 14, in Perth, Australia. (Matt Rourke/AP)
Perth, Australia
The US military said on Wednesday it will station in Australia an advanced radar to help track space junk threatening satellites and is working toward placement of a new, state-of-the-art deep-space telescope developed by the Pentagon’s advanced research arm.
The positioning of the advanced military equipment is another sign of deepening US military ties with Australia and America’s widely touted “pivot” to Asia. It follows an agreement last year for a rotating training presence of up to 2,500 Marines in Australia’s northern tropical city of Darwin.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Australia’s Defense Minister Stephen Smith made the announcement after high-level talks in the city of Perth, adding the C-Band radar would be moved from its present location on the island of Antigua some time in 2014.
“There is now so much debris in space that being acutely aware of space debris is very important to all nation states,” Smith said, warning that space junk could threaten satellites.
The Pentagon said in a fact-sheet the C-Band radar can track up to 200 objects a day and can help identify satellites, their orbits and “potential anomalies.”
Once relocated to Australia’s Harold E. Holt Naval Communications Station, it will be the first low-earth orbit space surveillance network sensor in the southern hemisphere.
The United States and Australia are also working to move to Australia an advanced optical telescope, known as the Space Surveillance Telescope, developed by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.
Panetta said the United States and Australia were also in discussions about the establishment of a “Combined Communications Gateway” in Australia that would give both countries greater access to the Wideband Global Satellite communications satellites currently in orbit.
“All of that represents a major leap forward in bilateral space cooperation,” Panetta said.
Australia’s defence policy is based around predictions of a more challenging and uncertain security outlook in Asia over the next two decades. It has responded with plans to purchase 100 F-35 stealth fighter aircraft and double its submarine fleet with a new generation of more potent, long-range boats.
Australia has played down the risk such facilities could antagonise an increasingly muscular China, which in 2011 had two-way trade with Canberra worth A$113 billion, making it Australia’s biggest trade partner.
Additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Rob Taylor
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Australia to deepen US ties by boosting bases
By David Wroe
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
Deepening ties … Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith. Photo: AFP
THE Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, has flagged in the clearest terms yet that Australia will deepen its long-term involvement in the United States’ strategic ”pivot” to Asia by boosting the role of the naval base at Perth in the build-up of American forces in the region.
Ahead of the high-level AUSMIN talks with the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton (pictured, right) and the US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, in the West Australian capital on Wednesday, Mr Smith said Perth’s HMAS Stirling would rise in prominence as the Indian Ocean gained strategic importance.
”I’ve been an advocate and an arguer of the point of view that India is on the rise, the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean is on the rise,” he said. ”The enhanced importance of Stirling and its utility is to me something that will occur as sure as night follows day.”
He stressed it would like take ”years, rather than weeks or months”. While HMAS Stirling has previously been floated as a possible site for a greater US naval presence – including even an aircraft carrier – the strength of Mr Smith’s remarks signify that Australia will play a long-term and expanding role in the pivot. Prime Minister Julia Gillard met with Ms Clinton and Mr Panetta on Tuesday night, joined by Mr Smith and Foreign Minister Bob Carr.
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Wednesday’s talks will cover the next stage of the rotation of US marines through Darwin, the first 250 of whom spent part of this year in the Australian base there. They will also canvass cyber security, how to tackle the amount of used satellite junk in space, and the post-2014 military contributions to Afghanistan.
Australia has indicated it would consider keeping a presence for counter-terrorism, as well as continue training Afghan officers.
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Australia And India Key To US’ Asia Pivot, Clinton Stresses
By Eurasia Review
Australia and India are a key countries for the U.S.’ Asia pivot, said Tuesday U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Australia is a gateway to the vibrant trade and energy routes that connect the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, the oil, the natural gas, the iron ore produced here that flows through those trade routes to the entire world, Clinton said.
Clinton made the comments while in Perth, Australia as part of her current Asia tour, which will lead her later this week to Singapore, and then on to Thailand to meet with President Obama before they both visit Burma. Obama Administration officials are traveling this week throughout Asia to reinforce ties in the region.
Clinton said it is no surprise that foreign investment is soaring in the region, “including more than $100 billion from the United States, because increasingly, these waters are at the heart of the global economy and a key focus of America’s expanding engagement in the region, what we sometimes call our pivot to Asia.”
That said, Clinton insisted that the U.S. has “never actually left Asia; we’ve always been here and been a presence here. We consider ourselves a Pacific power.”
Clinton also had special words for the relationship with India.
“In the 21st century, it’s important that we make absolutely clear we are here to stay. And how we think about the Asia Pacific or the Indo Pacific region is going to be critical,” Clinton said. “We’ve made it a strategic priority to support India’s Look East policy and to encourage Delhi to play a larger role in Asian institutions and affairs. And it’s exciting to see the developments as the world’s largest democracy and a dynamic emerging economy begin to contribute more broadly to the region.”
Clinton said it is also important to see the burgeoning relationship between Australia and India.
“We support a Look West policy here in Australia, and certainly applaud the Australian Government’s strategic white paper on Asian policy. We would welcome joint Australia-Indian naval vessel exercises in the future, and we’re eager to work together in the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation which Australia will chair in 2013 and which the United States has now joined as a dialogue partner,” Clinton said.
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