Japan’s newest amphibious deployment brigade praised after first time in Talisman Sabre
US and Australian military officers praise the Japanese’s newest amphibious rapid deployment force following Talisman Sabre
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AUSTRALIAN and US military commanders have praised the Japanese military personnel who participated in Exercise Talisman Sabre for the first time.
Major General Justin “Jake” Ellwood said he was proud of the way members of Japan’s 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment handled the beach landing alongside Australian, US, British and UK Marines and soldiers on July 16.
Speaking at privately-owned Langham Beach in Shoalwater Bay on the day, the Australian Army officer said the amphibious beach landing went well.
“It’s a highly complex activity and Japan have been training for a long time to make sure everything goes to plan,” Maj Gen Ellwood said.
“They’ve done a fantastic job. I’m very proud of them.”
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The comments came at the peak of the eighth Exercise Talisman Sabre, Australia’s largest ever biennial military training exercise, which started July 11.
It ends Saturday with a closing ceremony to be held aboard the USS Wasp at the Port of Brisbane.
The bilateral exercise, designed to test and practice combat readiness and interoperability between Australia and the US Armed forces, involved more than 34,000 military personnel from six nations spread along the coast of Queensland, with the majority at the Shoalwater Bay Military Training area outside of Rockhampton.
Its training scenario featured a fictitious adversary dubbed Team Red who had ousted a democratically elected government in a fictitious allied nation.
The Australian, US and Japanese forces - or Team Blue - had the task of restoring the sovereignty of the allied nation, with assistance from a handful of Canadian, British and New Zealand military personnel.
The Japanese also participated in a second amphibious assault at Kings Beach in Bowen on Monday with the Australian, UK and US landing forces, before moving throughout Bowen to secure the town from a fictitious enemy.
Japanese Ground Self Defense Force Major Takahiro Ota said training with the coalition forces was of great value, especially being able to participate in the amphibious beach landings and then moving into the land component of the exercise.
“We can launch from the ships and land here and after that … we can conduct an inland battle as well,” he said.
“Japan’s training environment is very small … so this is a very rare training environment and very realistic.”
Maj Ota said a handful of Japanese military embedded with some American forces during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015, with about 50 Japanese airborne personnel participating in the biennial exercise in 2017.
This year was the first time Japan had participated in Talisman Sabre on such a large level, sending two ships and the 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment from the Japanese Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force.
Maj Ota said the exercise also helped strengthen the relationship between the foreign nations and he hoped Japan would be invited again.
“In terms of training value this is a great one,” he said.
“We are very appreciative to (have been) invited to this great training.
“We’d like to continue this training.”
US Navy Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, speaking to the Courier Mail from on board the USS Wasp on Thursday, said it was the first time in his 29-year career that he had seen Australia, the US and Japan conduct an amphibious landing together.
He said the new Japanese amphibious force performed “extremely well.”
“I think they can be very proud of what they accomplished here in what has been a new capability and a new chapter for them,” he said.
“All of our nations have quite a bit to be proud of as they reflect back on Talisman Sabre ’19.”
Rear Admiral Kacher also praised the Royal Australian Navy, who he has worked with on numerous occasions throughout his career.
“They are truly very skilled and capable professionals in your Navy, which has a great maritime tradition of their own.”
The officer said Talisman Sabre was a “terrific success.”
“We have undeniably advanced our collective operability,” he said
“We stood watch side by side, our forces have landed on the beach, fighting shoulder to shoulder.
“It has been an incredibly realistic and relevant exercise that is going to build and advance our lethality in our region.”
The presence of Chinese spy ship sitting off the coast in international waters did not affect Talisman Sabre, according to the Rear Admiral.
“In terms of interacting with them, it occasionally happens out here … I can tell you for Talisman Sabre 19, all objectives were completed,” he said.
Matt McDonald, Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Queensland, said the large-scale military training exercise had a number of purposes for Australia.
“One is, strategically, it helps when you’re in proximate with the US military which is the largest military in the world, sharing best practices, but also you’re alongside a military to most likely be co-operating with in the future threat of combat,” he said.
“Another second interpretation is it’s all part of reasserting the importance of the alliance more broadly.
“The third rational might be it becomes a way of communicating to other states, in particular China, our strengths of purposes, especially in the context of broader participants.”
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Assoc Prof McDonald said Japan’s efforts were a sign of that nation working towards normalising its military force, which was disbanded following WWII.
“Japan has increasingly moved towards security normalisation,” he said.
“They have been inclined to do that in part because of China, in part because of North Korea and under direct encouragement from the United States.”
In 2015, the Japanese parliament approved a law allowing the military to mobilise overseas to defend other allies, instead of only acting as a domestic security force.
By 2018, the Japanese Self-Defence Force had carried out its largest reorganisation since 1954, including the launch of the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade.
The Japanese Marines are tasked to defend the nation’s remote Senkaku Islands in the South China Sea from China and Taiwan, which have also both claimed sovereignty.
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