WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will depart here for a nine-day trip Wednesday to Australia, Indonesia, India and Turkey, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

    Gates will join U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in the annual talks with Australian officials on bilateral security, according to spokesman Geoff Morrell.

    As a vital mission of the trip, Gates will put arms sales on his agenda in India. "The secretary is always an advocate for U.S. defense companies," Morrell said.

    On his way abroad, he will make a stopover in Hawaii where the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters are located, the spokesman added.

    The Pacific islands are also the base for the U.S. warships taking part in the controversial plan to shoot down a broken spy satellite, but the details of Gates' stop there have not been officially released.

    The Pentagon plans to shoot down the satellite as early as Wednesday, and Morrell said the defense secretary could give an order on the action.