The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday.
The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month.
In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine size grows,” it said.
Photo: Screen grab from US Marine Corps Web site
The US Indo-Pacific Command last week announced another program to rebuild the South Dock in Palau, it said.
The project features “shoreline stabilization, a quay wall wharf with a roll-on/roll-off boat ramp, and construction of a public boat ramp to support safe launch and recovery of small craft for residents,” the news site said, citing the US Department of Defense.
A Tactical Multi-Mission Over-the-Horizon Radar system is under construction in Angaur, Palau, in support of early warning and target tracking in the West Pacific, Naval News reported.
In Australia, the second proposed preposition site, the USMC already has a substantial presence at the Australian Army’s Robertson Barracks and at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, it said.
The US military is expected to decide on both sites by the end of the fiscal year.
If approved, the sites would be constructed in the model of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Philippines, a large warehouse storing military equipment utilized in humanitarian aid and disaster response missions, the report said.
The Philippines does not allow the permanent presence of US troops, but allows equipment to be stored in part of Subic Bay, so long as weapons are not being stockpiled, it said.
The warehouse contains fuel trucks, vehicles, and power distribution and material handling equipment, it said.
A photograph of the Philippine warehouse published with the Naval News article showed tactical trucks parked bumper-to-bumper in the facility.
Subic Bay is receiving additional prepositioned equipment stored in a separate 5,300m2 warehouse and being scrutinized as a possible site for an ammunition plant, the outlet said.
The site in the Philippines is expected to reach initial operational capability later this year and full operational capability next year, it said.
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