Exercise Talisman Sabre begins off central Qld coast

The largest ever bilateral defence exercise to hit Queensland’s shores begins today involving 35,000 service personnel — with some of our own playing the villain.

IT IS THE largest ever bilateral defence exercise to hit Queensland’s shores – and some of our own are playing the villains.

Exercise Talisman Sabre 2019 starts Friday off the coast of Shoalwater Bay with more than 34,000 mostly American and Australian military personnel involved.

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Now in its eighth iteration, Exercise Talisman Sabre 2019 (TS19) and its continual expansion since its 2005 inception has sparked so much interest there are now four additional countries participating, while a Chinese spy ship watches on for the second time.

The 34,500 participants is 1000 more than joined in with 2017 Talisman Sabre and also includes personnel from New Zealand, Canada, the UK and for the first time, Japan.

The initial Talisman Sabre in 2005 had about 17,500 Americans and Australians with 27,500 personnel involved in the 2007 exercise.

This year TS19 will take place at the Australian Defence Force Training area at Shoalwater Bay in Central Queensland, but will extend north to Townsville and as far south as the Evans Head Air Weapons Range in northern NSW.

Talisman Sabre Exercise Director Commodore Allison Norris said the military exercise’s focus was on combat readiness and interoperability between Australia and the US Armed forces.

This year, the training scenario features a fictitious adversary (played by some of the Australian military) who has overthrown a democratically elected government in a fictitious allied nation.

Locals watch on as the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is docked at the Port of Brisbane this week. Picture: Dan Peled/AAP

“The proposal of the exercise is to restore the sovereignty of that fictitious ally,” Commodore Norris said.

“We have a significant number of participants in the maritime area, air forces of the nation’s participating and also on land.”

Commodore Norris said the maritime aspects would be looking to ensure a safe beach landing for ground forces while fighter aircraft would provide combat support.

“That will then put the Australian and US ground forces ashore and they will conduct the land combat activities, which also includes Special Forces and urban operations,” she said. “(Talisman Sabre is) really important as it gives us the opportunity to work with allies and partners and emphasises our ability to work with the United States in a complex warfighting scenario.

“It also underpins the ANZUS alliance.”

Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, John Blaxland, said the Chinese Type 815G Dongdiao-class surveillance ship added an “interesting twist and a degree of realism” to the scenario.

Members of 16th Regiment armed with their RBS-70 watch over the battlefield as two US Army Apache Attack helicopters demonstrate their capability at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland.

“Now operational security and secrecy is not just for pretend, it’s for real,” he said.

“It’s a ship with massive electronic eavesdropping antennas.

“They want to monitor to see how good we are.

“They will have many people with headsets on listening intently to all of the comings and goings in the army, navy and air force platforms of all of those countries participating and will be scrutinising it in detail for lessons.”

A Chinese vessel was also spotted off the coast during Talisman Sabre 2017.

Commodore Norris said the presence of the Chinese was “not unexpected”.

“We will continue with the exercise as planned and the Chinese vessel will continue its transient in international waters, as is its right to do,” she said.

But the Chinese have hit back at Australia for highlighting the ship was nearby, saying Australia should be more concerned about the involvement of Japan’s fledgling Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB).

A representative from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Canberra referred The Courier-Mail to an article published in the Global Times, a daily Chinese newspaper that focuses on issues from the Chinese government’s perspective.

A rocket is fired during joint exercises at Shoalwater Bay Training. Picture: Sgt Nicolas A. Cloward

“The Australian military’s accusation that China sent a “spy ship” to gather intelligence on US-Australian naval exercises is nothing but an exaggeration,” the July 8 article states.

The Chinese newspaper quotes senior research fellow at the People’s Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute, Zhang Junshe, as saying Australian military’s remarks are more “China threat theory rhetoric, exaggerating China’s normal naval activities”.

Zhang told the Global Times that Japan’s military development should be the real concern of the international community.

Prof Blaxland said Japan’s addition showed its ties with Australia were closer than ever before.

“The Japanese are nervous,” he said.

“They’re looking around for friends, and Australia is a like-minded liberal Western democracy.”

This year TS19 - which ends in early August with the bulk of the war-games ending July 24 - brings with it about 20 military ships from five nations to the Port of Brisbane, the most to visit in 30 years for one exercise.

The exercise usually includes ships from the US 7th Fleet, including aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for the second time.

At least one US aircraft carrier has been involved with each Talisman Sabre which work alongside Australian submarines and navy vessels.

The now-retired USS Kitty Hawk and the USS George Washington have been among some of the most famous US ships to visit in previous years.

Some of the aircraft involved in the training include everything from F/A-18s to EA-18G Growlers.

The field training exercise will incorporate force logistics, land force manoeuvres, air, urban and maritime operations as well as amphibious landings and Special Forces activities.

Deputy Exercise Director, United States Army Colonel Jeffrey Gottlieb, 54, said Talisman Sabre was important to the US Defence Force as Australia’s vast geographical expanse provided ideal training opportunities.

“Australia and the United States have been together in peace and war for over 100 years now … and we have a shared interest in the freedom of the seas and regional stability,” he said.