Washington plans to deploy up to four submarines to HMAS Stirling in the coming years, with the first due to arrive in 2027, advancing a process of military integration with a Pacific ally with the aim of deterring China. Australia is investing billions of dollars in the base and a maintenance precinct nearby.
Stirling, about an hour’s drive south of Perth, is yet another example of how the U.S. and its allies are integrating their militaries, hoping the show of force ultimately convinces Beijing that it would be too costly to move on Taiwan. U.S. and allied militaries are training together more extensively and buying the same equipment, aiming to make their forces not just interoperable, but interchangeable.
Australia’s government is investing about $5.6 billion in Stirling for things like a training center, housing, improvements to the submarine pier, a facility to handle radioactive waste, and power. Late last year, the USS Vermont, a U.S. Virginia-class submarine—the Navy’s most advanced attack submarine—visited the base for about four weeks. U.S. and Australian personnel worked together on dozens of maintenance tasks on the boat.
Nearby on the mainland, Australia has earmarked $8.4 billion so far for a maintenance and shipbuilding precinct in a suburb called Henderson that is expected to include dry docks, which are needed for big repairs and the most extensive level of maintenance.
The Australian facilities ‘should be more than Guam, since it will have a permanent maintenance facility ashore with a dry dock,’ said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former submariner. ‘In theory, the Navy could implement an overhaul work package in Australia and reduce the work needed when the sub returns home.’