“It’s gone. It’s not coming back,” he said. “The US is now looking to new and safer ways to maintain a kind of equilibrium.

“So why Australia? We’re a trusted ally, highly integrated, already part of the US extended deterrence complex, not far from Asian flash points, but far enough away from most of China’s long-range missiles to make investment prudent.”

Tom Corben, a research fellow at the foreign policy and defence program at the United States Studies Centre said Australia’s geographic position was becoming increasingly critical to American defence interests.

“Australia’s strategic geography makes it particularly appealing to the United States as a pretty reliable staging area for military operations in peacetime and if it comes to it, wartime in Asia,” he said.

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“It’s part of a broader trend, where the US has realised that its traditional network of bases in the first island chain [in the Pacific] and even parts of the second island chain and around Guam are increasingly vulnerable to Chinese missile and other strategic assets.”

Corben said the B-52 plan was a continuation of military initiatives between the US and Australia that have been in action for at least 10 years.

“There’s a lot of hyperventilating in the last 24 hours, but it’s really the continuation of ongoing trends,” he said.

Corben said the bombers, while capable of carrying a nuclear payload, were now among the least advanced in the US fleet and would be used for deterrence - not for stealth.

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“This is not the US setting the terms of the alliance and Australia just kind of following along,” he said. “These are co-investments that are being made.”

Townshend said Australia would become the only country in the region where US bombers would be able to not only land but be stationed for extended periods.

“What’s different about where things are heading now is building infrastructure that goes beyond fuel and maintenance to a squadron operations facility that has provisions for both US and Australian crews to be working shoulder-to-shoulder,” he said.

Townshend said it was unlikely that the infrastructure would be limited to B-52s.

“You wouldn’t drop a billion dollars in infrastructure spending to support a 70-year-old aircraft that you’re phasing out over the next decade.”

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