31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, offload from an MV-22 Osprey to participate in Exercise Koolendong 13 (Australia) >>
CANBERRA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 U. S. Marines on Tuesday arrived in Darwin as part of a rotation of forces to be stationed in northern Australia.
The 1,250 troops who arrived in the Northern Territory (NT) will soon be joined by 13 aircraft -- four tilt-rotor Osprey helicopters, five Super Cobra helicopters and four Huey helicopters -- in one of the largest deployments of U.S. forces to Australia since World War II.
Commanding Officer of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, Lieutenant Colonel Brian S. Middleton told journalists on Tuesday "The aviation combat element is our most robust deployment to Darwin."
"I think that the commitment that we've taken to put a task force here with a conversation to get larger over the years says that we do think this is an important region."
"Being close to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Indo Pacific position has always been important."
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