Marine Rotational Force – Darwin
US Marines assigned to the Marine Rotational Force – Darwin and Australian soldiers prepare to board an American CH-53E Super Stallion in 2014
Country	United States
Branch	United States Marine Corps
Type	Marine Air-Ground Task Force
Commanders
Current commander	Colonel B. Sullivan[1]

Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is a United States Marine Corps Marine Air-Ground Task Force based at Matilda Lines at Robertson Barracks and at RAAF Base Darwin.

On 16 November 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and President Barack Obama announced that starting in 2012 US Marines would deploy to Darwin on a rotational basis for about six months to conduct exercises and train with the Australian Defence Force in the Northern Territory.^[2] The first rotation of about 200 US Marines deployed to Australia in April 2012.^[3] On 14 June 2013, the Prime Minister announced that in 2014 the size of the deployment would increase to 1150 US Marines to be based at Robertson Barracks. Since then, that number has increased to 2,500.^[4] During the six-month deployment, Marines train with their Australian counterparts in live fire exercises which builds comradery and combat effectiveness between the two coalition forces. Both forces train the other in their military methods which include artillery fire, Infantry tactics, communications equipment, and other various military trainings.

The current composition of MRF-D's cyclical nature follows the wet and dry seasonal weather patterns of Darwin. During the dry season, the MAGTF trains and during the wet season, the Ground Equipment Staging Program (GESP) works to maintain key equipment. The newly-created Marine Coordination Element (MCE) operates year-round to maintain relationships and seamless transition.

During the 2023 rotation, MRF-D suffered a tragedy when one of their MV-22 Osprey helicopters crashed during a training event resulting in the loss of three Marines.^[5]

Assets

• Key
  • GCE = Ground Combat Element
  • ACE = Aviation Combat Element
  • LCE = Logistic Combat Element
• MRF-D (April – October 2012)
  • GCE – Fox Company, 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines
• MRF-D (April – October 2013)
  • GCE – Lima Company, 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines^[6]
• MRF-D (April – October 2014)
  • GCE – 1st Battalion 5th Marines
  • ACE – Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) with Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallions^[7]
  • LCE – Combat Logistics Regiment 3 (CLR-3)^[8]
• MRF-D (April – October 2015)
  • GCE – 1st Battalion 4th Marines^[9]
  • ACE – HMH-463 with Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallions^[9]
• MRF-D (April – October 2016)
  • GCE – 1st Battalion 1st Marines^[10]
  • ACE – Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 (HMLA-367) with Bell UH-1Y Venoms.^[10]
• MRF-D 17.2 (April – October 2017)
  • GCE – 3rd Battalion 4th Marines^[11]
  • ACE – Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 (HMLA-367) with Bell AH-1Z Vipers, and Bell UH-1Y Venoms.^[12] Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 (VMM-268) with Bell Boeing MV-22B Ospreys.^[13]
• MRF-D 18.2 (April – October 2018)
  • GCE – 2nd Battalion 4th Marines^[14]
  • GCE – Mike Battery, 3rd Battalion 11th Marines^[15]
  • ACE – Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 (VMM-268) with Bell Boeing MV-22B Ospreys.^[16]
• MRF-D 19.2 (April – October 2019)
  • GCE – 1st Battalion, 1st Marines^[17]
  • GCE – India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines
  • ACE – Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 (VMM-363) with Bell Boeing MV-22B Ospreys. Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 (HMLA-367) with Bell AH-1Z Vipers, and Bell UH-1Y Venoms
  • LCE – Combat Logistics Battalion 1
• MRF-D 20.2 (April - October 2020)
  • GCE - 3rd Battalion 7th Marines
  • GCE - Kilo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines
  • ACE - Detachment, VMU-3
  • LCE - Combat Logistics Battalion 5

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marine Rotational Force – Darwin.

• US Marines Official website
• DVIDS Official website