An Australian F-35A Lightning II lands near ongoing construction at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, Australia, July 25, 2024. (Spencer Tobler/U.S. Air Force)
DARWIN, Australia — The top Air Force general in the Pacific evoked a threat posed by China, Russia and North Korea after inspecting air base improvements Tuesday in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Gen. Kevin Schneider, a fighter pilot who commands Pacific Air Forces out of Hawaii, discussed nearly $450 million of U.S.-funded base construction in the territory during a meeting with reporters at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin.
“Everything is on track,” he said, without providing projected completion dates.
Schneider gave estimates of $80 million for a fuel farm and operations facility at RAAF Darwin; $90 million for another fuel farm; $35 million for office and maintenance facilities; $100-$140 million for a bomber ramp; and $80-$100 million for a hangar at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, about 180 miles southeast of Darwin
“The pavement is a little more important than the actual structures,” he said, calling the air bases “power projection platforms.”
The U.S. and Australia are facing China’s rapid military build-up, efforts to expand territory it controls in the South and East China seas and influence-building in the South Pacific.
“When I look at the challenges in the region … the security situation has continued to change and not always for the better,” Schneider said.
The general said he inspected ongoing U.S.-funded projects during a walk-around Monday at Tindal.
Schneider couldn’t give a date for when the Darwin facility would open or when U.S. B-52 Stratofortress bombers might start deployments to Tindal.
“Anything that gets executed must be done with coordination at the highest levels of both of our governments,” he said.
The bomber deployments will be coordinated with the Australian government and air force and based on availability, training schedules and other exercises and activities in the region, Schneider said.
“This is not U.S. basing in Australia,” he said. “The United States is not going to operate unilaterally out of Australia.”
Australia is making its own investments in the Northern Territory bases — strengthening and lengthening runways and building up aprons, Schneider said.
The Northern Australian bases provide key flexibility, he said.
“Whatever the crisis, whatever the challenges that we face together, having the space with which we can operate, the runways, the airfields, the pavements — that’s what gives us the capability to win. The capability to overcome any of the challenges that are in front of us,” he said.
Schneider went on to talk about “heavy handed” and “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive” activities by China, Russia and North Korea.
The general’s visit coincided with the Pitch Black airpower exercise involving 21 nations, 140 aircraft and 4,400 personnel in the Northern Territory and the neighboring state of Queensland.
Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters and Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors are involved in the biennial drills, which began July 12 and conclude Friday.
European nations participating in Pitch Black — Germany, France, Italy and Spain — “recognize that what goes on in places like Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang and the efforts that undermine peace and stability have effects in Europe,” Schneider said.
He attended a briefing for airmen from multiple nations Monday night as they planned a strike and suppression of enemy air defenses.
“We don’t all have to show up with fifth-generation fighters to be part of this,” Schneider said, referring to such aircraft as the Raptors or Australia’s F-35A Lighting IIs. The Philippines, for example, brought FA-50 fighters to the exercise, he said.
