- The B-52s could attack Chinese territory and return to base without refueling.
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| American B-52 bomber. |
US plans to deploy six nuclear-capable bombers in Australia amid rising tension with China
The United States plans to deploy up to six B-52 bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, in northern Australia. This is revealed by an investigation by the ABC channel, which details that these planes will be deployed at the Australian army base in Tindal, located about 300 kilometers south of Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory.
The deployment of these bombers occurs at a time of growing tension in the Pacific between China and the United States over the sovereignty of the island of Taiwan, which Beijing intends to annex, as President Xi Jinping himself recalled at the recent Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Australian base in Tindal is about 4,500 kilometers from China, a distance that falls within the range of the B-52, long-range bombers that have come to set records for flight autonomy. That is, the American B-52s could take off from Tindal, launch an attack on Chinese territory and return to the base without refueling.
According to the documents revealed by ABC, the Australian Air Force RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) is expanding the facilities of that Tindal military base to accommodate US bombers, which will allocate a budget of 14.4 million dollars to the maintenance of that squad.
Becca Wasser, an analyst at the Center for the New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, says that the deployment of these B-52s is a warning to China: "Having bombers that can reach and potentially attack mainland China can be very important. to send a signal to Beijing that any of its actions on Taiwan may have wider consequences."
From the Australian government, they have limited themselves to highlighting the collaboration with the US in military matters, without confirming the deployment of the bombers.
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Politics