This is good news for the pivot:
President Obama announced in 2011 on his trip to Australia the U.S. plan to deploy 2,500 Marines on 6-month rotations to the port city of Darwin....
The commander of Pacific Air Forces said the Air Force plans to increase its number of rotations through Australia -- specifically in Tindal and Darwin -- starting next year.
Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle said in a meeting with reporters on July 29 that the Air Force plans to rotate fighter and tanker aircraft through Australia. He also said the service is open to discussing the possibility of establishing a long term bomber rotation as well.
With Littoral Combat Ships rotating through Singapore, we need air power in the region to keep our amphibious vessels and light warships from becoming a Force Z debacle in the face of Chinese air power projected from Hainan Island.
Australa is pretty far back, of course. But for long-range bombers and tankers support, isn't much different than flying from Guam.
Yet for fighters to provide air defense for ships that our out of range of carrier air wings, we'd need to deploy fighters in Singapore and the Philippines. Vietnam and Thailand would be nice, too.
China can pretend that the entire South China Sea is just another Chinese municipality in the region. But our deployments suggest otherwise.
