The Cocos Islands, Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, are near the Strait of Malacca, a chokepoint for Chinese oil imports. (Australian navy)
An Australian island in the Indian Ocean is one of several sites tagged for billions of dollars of U.S.-funded construction and refurbishments aimed at deterring China.
Naval Facilities Engineering Command is seeking proposals for at least three projects worth up to $15 billion combined in Australia’s Cocos Islands, the Philippines, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea, according to the June 26 bid solicitation.
The projects, which include new facilities, repairs, renovations and infrastructure, would be funded under the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, according to the notice.
The initiative, established by Congress in fiscal 2021, aims to maintain America’s military advantage over China by modernizing and strengthening the U.S. presence in the Indo-Pacific.
The Cocos Islands, population 600, are 1,864 miles west of Perth.
The projects outlined in the Navy’s solicitation “may or may not support the Darwin Marines Rotational Force,” a spokesman for NAVFAC Pacific, the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet engineering arm, told Reuters news agency by email for a report Monday.
NAVFAC Pacific did not immediately respond Wednesday to an emailed request from Stars and Stripes for further information.
Two thousand Marines arrived in the northern Australian port city in March for an annual, six-month-long training rotation.
Australia is already upgrading facilities in the Cocos, which comprise two coral atolls made up of 27 smaller islands, according to information on the Australian Defence Force’s website.
“Due to insufficient length and strength of the existing airfield pavement, large Defence aircraft are unable to operate out of CKI,” the Cocos Keeling Islands Airfield, the website states.
An Australian project there would improve pavement, enhance lighting and drainage, and build a new wharf by mid-2027, according to the website.
The Cocos construction and other U.S.-funded base upgrades in Australia were on the agenda when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met their Australian counterparts, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles and Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, on Tuesday in Annapolis, Md.
Improvements to the island facilities will allow P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes, E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft and aerial refuelers to operate there, according to former Australian assistant defense secretary Ross Babbage.
“In the past there has been American interest in this and also in UAV use,” he told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.
Drone operations are a “more realistic possibility” with the Australian air force’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat multirole aircraft expected to begin initial operations within two years, Babbage said.
The Cocos are closer to the Strait of Malacca, a chokepoint for Chinese oil imports, than Diego Garcia, a key U.S. logistics hub in the Indian Ocean and a launch point for bombing missions during the Afghan war.
The Cocos atoll itself offers good weather protection, but minimal support facilities for ships in the event of severe conditions, Babbage wrote.
“The facilities and the available workforce on Cocos are minimal and because of terrain constraints and the atoll’s remoteness it would be difficult and very expensive to build and support large-scale operations of most types from that location,” he said.
