ADF
Sun Sets on Talisman Sabre As TS21 drew to a close, the strength of allies, partnerships and friendships remained. Along the coast from Northern Territory to NSW, the dust settled and members of international forces started to catch their breath. Seven nations sent military forces to test their abilities to operate together across the traditional operating domains of sea, land, and air, as well as on the new frontiers of information/cyber and space. While COVID-19 reduced personnel numbers, it added to the complexity and the ability of all nations to plan complicated manoeuvres while protecting the health and safety of their forces. This year’s exercise included some of the most realistic and challenging training activities yet, spreading even further across Queensland than in previous years. Nearly 17,000 personnel from Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom worked, trained and fought side by side. In the first few days of the exercise, each nation focused on foundational training to get the multinational forces reading from the same playbook. Sailors, soldiers, and aviators of each nation made brief introductions, brushed up on their tactics and skills and took the first steps on what would become a steep learning experience. Within days, they were live-firing, a symbol of the action set to play out on the battlefield.
In a first for Australia, the US Army launched the MIM-104 Patriot surfaceto-air missiles at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area on July 16. The next two days involved a barrage of munitions from land, air, and sea, culminating in an awesome display by the US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Not only spectacular to watch, the live-fire activities showed that the forces of the seven nations could operate as one to produce a coordinated and staggering result. Things ramped up again in the second week with the collective training; engineers paired with infantry, explosive detection dogs alongside amphibious elements; and Special Forces worked in the air and in the shadows. As the complexity of each event built, so did the threat scenario. The Townsville Field Training Area hummed within the urban operations training facility, a series of structures built for soldiers to fight through the streets and buildings of a simulated town. At sea, the air and maritime assets engaged in high-end warfare training above and below the waves off the Queensland coast. Meanwhile a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber joined the latest Australian aircraft in a simulated long-range strike. In the third week, the combined forces orchestrated all of these moving pieces in a complex opposed scenario involving real Queensland communities like Bowen, Ingham and Cairns. Forces in the community fought their way through a scenario designed to test their skills at the highest level.
FACTS & STATS Seven Nations 17,000 military personnel 8300 Australians 8000 Americans 200 Japanese 250 Canadians 230 South Koreans 130 British 20 New Zealanders
Across Five Domains: Maritime, amphibious, land, air, cyber First time the Patriot has been fired in Australia First time South Korea participated 510+ tents 8000+ dozen loo rolls 180L hand sanitiser 15,000 cable ties 5km temporary fencing
Marching on its stomach: Lavarak Barracks, Townsville • 128,000+ meals • 5000kg chicken • 11,000kg meat • 500kg fish • 200,000 eggs • 6000kg fruit • 17,800kg vegetables • 6000 litres dairy products • 4500 loaves of bread C-130J Hercules C-27J Spartan C-17A Globemaster F/A-18A Hornet F/A-18F Super Hornet F-35A Lightning II EA-18G Growler E-7A Wedgetail Hawk 127 P-8A Poseidon KA350 King Air PC21 KC-30A multi-role tanker transport AP-3C Orion (EW)
AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPER
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