US marines arrive for 6 month deployment to Australia

More than 1,100 U.S. marines began arriving in Darwin on Monday for a six month rotation to train with Australian troops in the far north of the country, local media reported.

They are the fourth rotation of U.S. marines to arrive in Darwin after Australia and the U.S. struck a deal in 2011 to raise the number of U.S. troops based in Australia.

The goal is to have 2,500 marines serving in Australia at Darwin - by 2017.

They will live in the Australian defense base in Darwin and train in the harsh outback areas of the Northern Territory.

Meanwhile 70 Australian defense personal continue to participate in the Exercise Balikatan war games with the U.S. and Philippines on the Filipino islands of Luzon and Palawan which run until April 30.