The skies above Darwin are filling with thick, fluffy clouds again, marking the build-up to the tropical monsoon season.
The fighter jets streaking across them over the past month are gone again for now.
The defence force has wrapped up Exercise Pitch Black, a massive, multi-national joint-training drill launched from the air force base that shares a runway with Darwin's civilian airport.
Thousands of pilots and personnel and close to a hundred aircraft from over a dozen countries joined Australia and the US for three weeks of practice conflict scenarios.
This year, the exercise featured more participating countries than ever, with Japan, South Korea and Germany travelling thousands of kilometres to take part for the first time.
A German commander told reporters his group's first-ever non-stop, 24-hour flight to the Top End showed how quickly the country could arrive in the region if required.
On the ground below, this year's deployment of US marines marks 11 years of the deal that sparked global headlines about the game-changing US "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific region.
Front pages have been recently filled with questions about the controversial lease of the Darwin port to Chinese-owned company Landbridge.
Locals have been watching on as the drills grow in size and complexity each year, along with military spending in the Top End and warnings about rising political tensions in the region.
But apart from a few complaints about the conversation-stopping roar of aircraft during Exercise Pitch Black, there is relatively little local discussion about the military build-up around Darwin and its implications.
The city has previously found itself on the frontline of war.
The bombing of Darwin during World War II remains the deadliest attack on Australian soil in modern history.
So, what do residents think of the growing military spend, and expansion of facilities, on their doorstep?
Richard Fejo, Darwin traditional owner
For Richard Fejo, the defence force and Australia's allies are welcome on Larrakia land.
"I agree with having Americans here," the former Larrakia Nation chairman said.
"I agree with having any people that will align themselves with Australia's interests — because [they're] our interests."
With ancestors who defended their land before and during British invasion, family who served in WWII and a father who fought for land rights decades later, Mr Fejo sees common cause with the troops stationed in the Top End.
"Larrakia have always fought for our land," he said.
"We defended that land against other tribal groups, prior to any non-Aboriginal people stepping foot on Larrakia country.
"Right throughout the history, from early settlement, we were being pushed off country, so we had to fight back."
On the saltwater country around Darwin harbour and the city itself, the defence force has a wharf and naval base, an air base at Darwin airport and two separate barracks, both undergoing upgrades.
Further south, near Katherine on Jawoyn country, multi-billion dollar works are underway to upgrade the Tindal RAAF base so that it can host larger aircraft.
There are training grounds in the western Top End and on the edge of Kakadu, with the marines also using parts of the Tiwi Islands and north east Arnhem Land this year for training exercises.
There are other traditional owners who are uncomfortable with the idea of their land being used to prepare for possible conflict.
But many, like Mr Fejo, believe the Larrakia and Australian and US troops are now on the same side.
"If it ever came to fighting a war, we need those people around us who can fight alongside us, with us and even fight for us," he said.
Kon Vatskalis, Lord Mayor of Darwin
The military presence and firepower in the Top End has the strong support of both sides of politics at the local and federal level.
Criticism and concerns voiced when the US marines deal was first announced have largely faded from mainstream coverage and conversation.
Added together, defence projects currently in development in the Top End represent $3.5 billion of federal and NT government investment.
That does not include the $1.5 billion earmarked for "future port infrastructure" or $270 million the US is spending building its own jet fuel storage tanks 15 kilometres from the Darwin CBD.
Darwin Lord Mayor and former NT Labor minister Kon Vatskalis said the local economy had always relied on spending associated with the military – from larger projects to defence force families needing "to buy food, to buy fuel, to run a car, to buy a house."
"You talk to the builders, they love it, you talk to the restaurants, they love it," he said.
"It's one of the most contributors to the economy after tourism and agriculture."
Business owners Ronald Strachan and Eileen Breen
At last count, 8.8 per cent of the NT economy came from defence-related business, up from 7.3 per cent.
A fraction of that takes place at Ronald Strachan's small, over-stuffed flag shop tucked down a side street in the Darwin CBD, where he has been selling military flags, medals and patches for more than three decades.
Defence force sales make up about a third of his sales, and he's noticed an increase in the past 10 years in particular.
Mr Strachan says he sees the defence forces as a vital part of the Top End economy as well as a source of protection.
"There'll always be a percentage of people who [are] anti-military, anti-war mongering, anti- presence," he said.
"We can't do without them – they're good for business."
On the road to the Darwin port, in the East Arm industrial area, local construction and demolition business co-owner Eileen Breen has multiple defence projects currently on the go.
Ms Breen said while it had initially been difficult for small and medium-sized local businesses to get a foot in the door for defence contracts, concerted efforts by both levels of government had made the system easier to navigate.
"In our experience, we've actually found they provide quite a bit of support for onboarding with those tenders," she said.
Only a few hundred metres from the business, work is underway on the US fuel storage facility, where the construction contract was awarded to American giant Crowley.
The company has signed an agreement with the Larrakia Development Corporation to a job training program for young Larrakia.
As for the defence presence in Darwin, Ms Breen said it was "something we've talked about as a business and a family" and believed locals were safer with it.
"If we look back at our military history … I think it just provides more security here, for us to have a military base," she said.
Kieran Finnane, investigative journalist
It's been years now since a hand-painted sign was spotted on the side of a road in Darwin demanding "US soldiers out" or "No American base!"
Down the Stuart Highway in Alice Springs, long-time resident and journalist Kieran Finnane said there was too little contemporary coverage of military developments in the NT and not enough scrutiny.
"I'm really concerned about the lack of debate in the community and by our political leaders about what the purpose in the military build-up in the Northern Territory is," she said.
"And – to what extent it serves our interests."
Just under 20 kilometres outside Alice, on Arrernte land, sits the highly-secretive, US-owned and run Pine Gap intelligence facility.
The base has operated quietly in the desert for more than three decades now.
There are periodic warnings it could become vulnerable in future conflict – most recently from former Joint Intelligence Organisation director Paul Dibb, who said the facility could become the target of a nuclear attack.
Ms Finnane, who has written about Pine Gap and the efforts by peace activists to draw attention to its purpose, said Australia's involvement in America's plans for the Asia-Pacific was happening without interrogation.
"The bottom line of military activity, as we know, is death and destruction," she said.
"It's the management of human affairs with violence and the threat of violence.
"And isn't that something really that Australians need to be talking about? Is that the kind of country that we want to be in the world?"
Shu Li, Chinese-Australian Darwin resident
The flag most obviously absent from all those on display during Exercise Pitch Black is China's.
The man in charge of the exercise this year, Commander Tim Alsop, was at pains to insist Pitch Black is "not against anyone, but for a lot of nations".
For Chinese-born Territorian Shu Li, there are mixed feelings about developments in the Top End.
She said many in Darwin's Chinese-Australian community believe the defence presence is good for the economy. Others fear it puts the region at heightened risk of attack.
However, she said the strongest view was that both sides should be working more towards peace.
"I think that the way to go is, opening up all the channels to talk ... and also, [be prepared] to negotiate," she said, speaking in her position as part of the Australia-China Friendship Society.
"If you shut the gate, not negotiate at all, how you can expect the relationship to get better? You have to be prepared to negotiate, to gain those diplomacy skills.
"I think we should use the diplomacy more than just [think of] a war."
