Bradshaw Field Training Area

Government sources

Australia

2004 Australia-United States Ministerial Consultation, Key Outcomes From Ausmin 2004:

"Australia-US Joint Combined Training Centre:

• The agreement to develop a Joint Combined Training Centre will significantly enhance the quality of our bilateral training program and Australian Defence Force capabilities.

• Training facilities at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland and the Bradshaw Training Area and Delamere Air Weapons Range in the Northern Territory will be further developed and linked with US facilities.   The specific details of these upgrades are yet to be determined.

• The centre will not be a US base, and the United States has not proposed establishing a permanent base in Australia."

$40.6 Million in Defence Funding for the Northern Territory, Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, Press Release, MIN73/06, 9 May 2006.

Native Title and Land Rights - Challenges for Defence, Defence Magazine, June 2005.

Northern Territory

Bradshaw Field Training Area, Northern Territory Department of Resources, Environment and the Arts.

Bradshaw Field Training Area, Map of the Project Area

Bradshaw Partnering Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) Map [Image] 

United States

Project Description and Fact Sheet, Joint Rapid Airfield Construction (JRAC) 2007 Demonstration Project, Bradshaw Field Training Area (BFTA), Northern Territory, Australia, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Australian Airfield Site Surveys: Trip Report, U.S.Army Joint Rapid Airfield Construction (JRAC).

FY 2007 Budget Item Justification Sheet, US Department of Defense February 2006.

“Enhancing” the Australian-U.S. Defense Relationship: A Guide to U.S. Policy, Thomas-Durell Young, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, November 17, 1997.

As a result of the July 1996 Australian-U.S. Ministerial Meeting and the ADF's shift to the north, new and old areas are being developed and/or considered for exercises by the
ADF. However, just as there are a number of general limiting factors concerning exercises in Australia, so are there specific restrictions. One shared both by Bradshaw and Yampi Sound is that they are located within heavily used civil air corridors.

Bradshaw Station. The former Bradshaw Station in the Northern Territory has recently been purchased by the Australian Department of Defence. It is approximately 600 kilometers from Darwin by road. Bradshaw's mission will be to support 1st Brigade which is moving to Palmerston, NT from Holsworthy, NSW. The area comprises 1 million acres, is located between the Fitzmorris and Victoria rivers and is reputed to have good training terrain. The area has sea, air and land access. The ADF will have to upgrade existing infrastructure in the area (estimated to be $A50 million), and the Commonwealth will need to improve infrastructure leading to the area, which it has been slow to plan, according the Northern Territory government.  Improvements include new sealed roads, simulation systems, construction/improvement of three airstrips which can operate C-130s, and three training camps similar to that being constructed at Mt. Bundi, southeast of Darwin. These improvements must be effected before the area can be used–current projections are that it will be ready in 1999.

Of fundamental ADF concern regarding Bradshaw is that, despite its size, Bradshaw may not be sufficient for 1st Brigade's training requirements. A key inhibiting factor is the area's extreme environmental fragility. For example, it can take up to 10-years for the terrain to return to its normal state after it has been crossed by an armored tracked vehicle. As 1st Brigade is the test bed for new operational and organizational concepts which will affect the entire Army as outlined in “Army 21,” it is predictable that the area's usage will be severely restricted to outside forces.

Project coordinator: Richard Tanter
11 June 2008