Wide open space is a rare commodity amongst Indo-Pacific militaries, but it is something that the Australian Defence Force is fortunate to have access to in abundance.

Australia is one of just a few Indo-Pacific nations – including the US, Russia and China – with access to unpopulated land and empty airspace required to train fighter or helicopter crews, to fire artillery to its maximum range, and to test and develop new weapons and platforms out of sight and with little electromagnetic interference.

In particular, the Singapore Armed Forces, the Japan Self-Defense Force and the Republic of Korea Armed Forces face challenges in training military roles that require vast tracts of open country for combat-realistic scenarios, such as pilots and artillery crews. Singapore, for example, conducts large parts of its pilot training in Australia, as well as unilateral training for its land forces. Similarly, Japan is expanding its access to Australian training areas through the Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will potentially also allow it to conduct unilateral training here in addition to the exercises it already conducts alongside the ADF. Equally, the increasing American presence in the Northern Territory also places greater demand on Australian ranges. 

In fact, arguments are increasingly being made for the government to leverage Australia’s training ranges to strengthen relationships with these like-minded nations. Writing in the ASPI Strategist, Guy Boekenstein – previously Senior Director Defence and National Security for the Northern Territory Government, and now an Australian representative on the management board for the International Security Industry Council of Japan – has made the case that the Northern Territory’s training ranges offer particular advantages to the mutual relationship.

As Australia’s strategic geography grows more central to the military balance in the Indo-Pacific, money is clearly flowing into training ranges around the country.

US Force Posture Initiative

The $747 million US Force Posture Initiative (USFPI) Northern Territory Training Areas and Ranges Project is one of the most significant range upgrade projects underway in Australia. Under the leadership of Sitzler as managing contractor, the program is upgrading and expanding the following facilities: Robertson Barracks Close Training Area, 15 kilometres east of Darwin; Kangaroo Flats Training Area, south of Darwin; the Mt Bundey Training Area, on the Arnhem highway; and the massive Bradshaw Field Training Area, an area near the WA border that is the size of Cyprus.

The works underway across all these ranges include: decommissioning a number of facilities; upgrading existing training areas; constructing ranges control facilities, weapons ranges, landing sites for aircraft, obstacle courses, wash points and more; building new roads and improving existing ones; new services infrastructure; and a new hardstand.

At the Robertson Barracks Close Training Area, this work is divided into Project Elements 1-4. Project Element 1 – Administrative and Support Facilities and Infrastructure involves construction of a new range control precinct and associated facilities like a vehicle wash point and staff facilities. Element 2 is the construction of an additional weapons training simulation facility (WTSS) to complement the existing WTSS, which is at capacity, whilst Element 3 is upgrading the existing Urban Operations Training Facility to a capacity of 30 people. Element 4 of the works at Robertson Barracks is deconstructing infrastructure that’s no longer required, such as three existing weapons ranges (which will also require decontamination).

Project Elements 5-7 are over at the Kangaroo Flats Training Area. Element 5 mirrors Element 1 (a range control precinct), whilst Element 6 includes construction of three new outdoor weapons ranges with “technically advanced targetry systems”. The demolitions range at Kangaroo Flats is also being relocated. Element 7, like Element 4, involves removing 15 weapons ranges that Defence will no longer need after the upgrades.

Elements 8-11 at the Mt Bundey Training Area include similar range control works and the construction of a new outdoor range for longer-range weapons systems, as well as an Urban Operations Training Facility with a capacity for up to 120 people. A forward arming and refuelling point for helicopters is also being constructed.

Finally, Elements 12-15 at the Bradshaw Field Training Area include similar Administrative and Support Facilities and Infrastructure works, ranges and urban operations facilities, but notably also include an extension to the Nackeroo Airfield runway (which will also be sealed) and an aircraft parking apron capable of hosting two C-17 Globemasters and eight Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey aircraft, which are the primary assault aircraft of the US Marine Corps.

Sitzler – a company with roots in the north and owned by Michael Sitzler and Steve Margetic for 30 years – set an initial target of awarding 98 per cent of construction subcontracts to Northern Territory businesses. In the years since the contract was secured in 2019, a number of local businesses have been engaged. For example, a contract to upgrade a range of roads through the Kangaroo Flats Training Area was awarded to AKJ Services, a Larrakia Indigenous-owned construction company established in 2018, which is also responsible for a $1 million project to repair and reconstruct roads in Robertson Barracks Training Area. An electrical and communications infrastructure subcontract at Robertson Barracks, which includes substations, switchboards, and comms relocation was awarded to NT Electrical Group, whilst Yarrawonga-based Molloy Electrical secured a similar contract in Kangaroo Flats.

Through Sitzler’s publicly-accessible tender information, the Kangaroo Flats Training Area is a current area of focus for this program. Subcontracts for road repair and construction, electrical and communications infrastructure, and tranche two of building works for the Range Control Precinct were awarded in late 2022, with the lattermost of these going to Indigenous company Barpa Construction Services.

The scheduled completion date for the whole (USFPI) Northern Territory Training Areas and Ranges Project is 2026. 

Australia-Singapore Military Training Initiative

Other than the United States, the wealthy city-state of Singapore is one of the most significant investors in Australian military ranges through the $2.25 billion Australia-Singapore Military Training Initiative (ASMTI).

As ADM reported in 2022, the training relationship between Australia and Singapore has long been focused on the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (which is more than four times the size of Singapore) and the new Greenvale Training Area near Townsville. This began with the first Exercise Wallaby in 1990, which is now an annual event involving thousands of troops, and the relationship has since grown to include huge elements of Singaporean pilot training across its helicopter and fixed wing fleets.

In 2016, Australia and Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding to expand Singaporean access to Australian training areas and to jointly develop military training areas in Australia. This agreement was escalated four years later to become a treaty on Military Training and Training Area Development in Australia, which will expand Shoalwater Bay and build the Greenvale facility. According to Defence, this treaty “builds on more than 30 years of Singapore’s military training in Australia and underpins Singapore’s investment and commitment to delivering the ASMTI.” In addition, the ASMTI will by 2028 allow up to 15,000 Singaporean military personnel to conduct unilateral training in Australia for up to 18 weeks per year for 25 years.

The Shoalwater Bay Training Area – long the bedrock of the bilaterial training relationship – is being expanded westwards by around 110,000 hectares, and undergoing a range of upgrade works under the management of prime contractor Laing O’Rourke. The works involve road construction, fencing, firebreaks and entry points, camp accommodation, storage and an urban operations live fire facility. Procurement for major works in the program occurred in 2020, such as field explosive ordnance storage, ICT infrastructure, medical facilities and more. The expansion and upgrade to Shoalwater Bay is reportedly scheduled to be completed on time in mid-2024. The new Greenvale Training Area will add 310,000 hectares to Defence’s extensive property portfolio at a site around 215 kilometres northwest of Townsville. The managing contractor for this $800 million development is CPB Contractors, which is turning grazing lands into a military range across an area half the size of Singapore itself. In addition to the usual range control facilities, camp accommodation, medical facilities, road networks and vehicle washes, the work also includes a Combined Arms Air Land Range. CPB Contractors completed design work for Greenvale in December 2022 and is expected to complete detailed design for an Urban Operations Live Fire Facility later this year. 

Notably, in February 2023, the Queensland State Government passed the Land and Other Legislation Amendment Bill, which will reportedly make it easier for Defence and its prime contractors to deliver the Greenvale and Shoalwater Bay works.

“The bill achieves its objectives by amending the Land Act 1994 and the Land Regulation 2020 as follows: expanding the application of section 390A of the Land Act to apply to defence land so that certain dealings over land leased by the Commonwealth Department of Defence, at the Greenvale and Shoalwater Bay defence training sites, can be undertaken by the Department of Defence without the minister’s or chief executive’s approval under the Land Act,” Member for Mundingburra Les Walker said in a speech supporting the Bill. “This amendment supports the delivery of the Australia-Singapore Military Training Initiative, reducing the possibility of delays in the development and use of the land, giving the Department of Defence greater certainty in the management and use of the sites.”

This article first appeared in the July/August 2023 edition of Australian Defence Magazine.