VANGUARD - Expressing the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
For National Independence and Socialism • www.cpaml.org
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February 21 to 23 is designated as the Global Days of Action to #CloseBases. On February 23, 1903, the United States took over Guantánamo from Cuba. It has never been returned. People across Latin America have used this date to organize events opposing bases, militarism, and the Monroe Doctrine. World Beyond War expanded it into a global day of action.
On 21 February, protestors from Adelaide/Kaurna Yerta converged on the Royal Australian Air Force base at Edinburgh, north of Adelaide. Like the rest of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), this base has become interoperable and interchangeable with the U.S. military. The groups involved in this protest action were Disrupt Arms Traders and IPAN-SA.
Global arms dealers have established themselves inside this base, under the protection of the Australian Defence Force. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Raytheon, Airbus, and others operate weapons programs there.
One example is the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAV, a massive, high-altitude spy drone. Australia has a fleet of these drones based at Tindal Air Base in the Northern Territory, and has spent over $166 million to build the facility there.
The drones are remotely controlled from Edinburgh base and fly 24-hour-long spy missions over a vast area of East Asia. It is highly likely that this surveillance data is distributed via Pine Gap. Last year, in 2025, RAAF Edinburgh and Boeing Defence Australia were announced as the winners of a $160 million contract to maintain, repair, and overhaul the United States and Australian Tritons.
Roughly the size of a Boeing 737, the high-altitude (up to 50,000 feet), long-endurance (up to 15,000 kilometres), high-speed (up to 600 kilometres per hour) Tritons can deploy the most advanced maritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting capability available. The Triton’s endurance means it can stay airborne for longer than a traditional aircraft with a pilot on board.
The Assistant Minister for Defence, Peter Khalil, has stated about the Triton UAV: “The project also deepens Australia’s Cooperative Program with the US Navy, by ensuring our forces can operate seamlessly together in support of regional stability.” In truth, this means Australia is the United States’ lapdog; it will go anywhere and commit any aggression that the U.S. Empire commands.
Since 2022, the Albanese Government has invested over $2.8 billion in militarising Northern Australia, with 43 projects either completed or underway. This is for the sole benefit of U.S. war machine assets in the NT. These include housing 2,500 rotating marines at the Robertson Barracks in Darwin; hosting B-52 bombers—which have the potential to carry nuclear weapons—in special facilities at Tindal RAAF Base; and setting up storage depots for fuel, spare parts, bombs, and other munitions in the NT, such as the huge U.S. fuel storage facilities at East Arm, Darwin, to power the B-52 bombers.
Since Federation, the Australian Defence Force has been no more than an extra battalion for the British Empire and now for U.S. imperialism. It would be more honest to call the ADF the “American Deputy Force.”
The protest congregated at the main gate of the base, displaying anti-U.S. war banners, and included speeches and chants against U.S. imperialism and Australia’s military war crimes. From beginning to end, the South Australian Police tailed the car convoy to the air force base and kept the protestors under close surveillance.
There is growing opposition to military bases in Australia and their interlocking relationship with major weapons manufacturers, which are primarily U.S.-based.
More actions against U.S. and Australian military bases throughout Australia will no doubt intensify in the future.