Biennial Exercise Talisman Sabre is still going ahead this year despite the global pandemic

Australia’s largest joint military exercise with the US will forge ahead this year despite the global coronavirus pandemic, but just how many troops will show up remains to be seen.

Australia’s largest bilateral combined military training activity with the US will go ahead throughout Queensland and part of NSW despite the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic from June.

Although the Australian Defence Force (ADF) are yet to release the final number of people expected to take place in the ninth iteration of the biennial Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21), it is anticipated to be much lower than the 34,500 mostly American and Australian military personnel that took part in Talisman Sabre 2019 due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

US marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen and women are expected to converge on regions extending from Weipa to the Whitsundays and down to Evans Head in NSW from late June through to August, with the majority of the mock war-games being carried out from July 18-31.

Special operations members from the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Air Force, Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and Australian Federal Police Crime Scene Investigators trained together during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2019 developing interoperability while conducting special forces missions throughout North Queensland. Picture: Supplied

The majority of the joint exercise – designed to help improve the ADF and United States military’s combat readiness and interoperability – will take place in, or off the coast of, the ADF Shoalwater Bay training area outside of Rockhampton, as well in or near the Ingham, Innisfail, Charters Towers, Townsville, Bundaberg, Mackay, Bowen, Proserpine, Lucinda and Forest Beach regions.

This year TS21 will consist of a field training exercise incorporating force preparation – or logistics – activities, amphibious landings, ground force manoeuvre, urban operations, air combat and maritime operations, according to the ADF web site.

The joint exercise is also used to test both militaries capabilities in planning and conducting Combined and Joint Task Force operations.

Australian Forces during a beach assault at Shoalwater Bay during Talisman Sabre 2019. Talisman Sabre 2021 is still scheduled to take place despite the global coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Peter Wallis

Questions asked by the Courier Mail about how the militaries will operate within the confines of the COVID restrictions are yet to be answered by the ADF, but information on their web site states that the defence department would work with “relevant authorities” to develop safe COVID practices.

“In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Defence is adjusting how it does business while still maintaining operational readiness. TS21 is critical to Defence maintaining that readiness,” the web site states.

“Defence will work with relevant authorities to understand and develop safe COVID practices while still allowing the exercise to achieve its objectives.

“Any community engagement that occurs will follow relevant government requirements at the time.”

Australian Forces during a mock beach assault at Shoalwater Bay during Talisman Sabre 2019. Pic Peter Wallis

The Courier Mail understands that all foreign military personnel will need to undergo COVID-19 testing prior to leaving their home country and after arriving in Australia, as well as having to comply with any mandatory quarantine restrictions.

An ADF spokeswoman previously told the Townsville Bulletin that a reduced number of international forces would also travel to Australia while some components of the exercise would occur exclusively offshore.

During TS19, more than 30 soldiers in one fortnight were treated for flu-like symptoms at a deployable field hospital set up in the middle of the Shoalwater Bay Military Training area, with half of them confirmed to have influenza.

At the time, doctors said the majority of the ill soldiers were from New Zealand Defence Force.

Jets on board the USS Wasp warship in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Central Queensland, during TS19. Pic Peter Wallis

High-speed military jets will be part of a wide range of tactical flying activities during TS21’s peak July war games period, with most aircraft flying in and out of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Amberley near Ipswich, the Townsville Field Training area southwest of Townsville or from various military warships.

Some rotary wing aircraft could also operate in and around the Whitsundays, according to an Aviation State Engagement Forum document.

Talisman Sabre 2019 was the largest ever defence exercise to hit Queensland’s shores, even piquing the interest of a Chinese spy ship for the second time.

The joint military training exercise had expanded so much since its inception in 2005 that military personnel from New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Japan also took part in 2019.

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

Separate, lead up training to TS21 has already started in some areas, including near Tully where ADF soldiers participated in Exercise Ready Fist in March.