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| Cocos Islands (Click to Enlarge) |
BRENDAN NICHOLSON
THE airfield at remote Cocos Islands has been confirmed as a future base for US and Australian surveillance drones and maritime patrol aircraft.
The Force Posture Review, ordered by Defence Minister Stephen Smith last year and released yesterday, recommends Australia strengthen its northern approaches.
The Australian-controlled Cocos Islands -- site of a 1914 naval victory by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, which sank the German commerce raider Emden -- are 2750km northwest of Perth and in some of the world's most strategically important sea lanes.
Half of the world's present conflicts are being fought in the Indian Ocean region. As foreshadowed in January, the strategic review calls for a second naval fleet base to be built in Brisbane and for upgrades to defence facilities in Broome and Darwin.
Co-authored by two former Defence Department secretaries, Allan Hawke and Ric Smith, the review calls for Defence to be able to "project military power" from strategically significant offshore territories.
Read the full story at The Australian