Talisman Sabre 2021 plunges into urban combat simulation at the Townsville Field Training Area
The Australian and US soldiers’ mission was to dislodge a fictious fighting force which had invaded and taken over an urban area.
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THE co-operation of Australian and US forces was put to the test in an urban setting as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 on Tuesday.
Three Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys delivered 200 US marines to the Townsville Field Training Area around 11.30am.
After landing, they combined with Australian soldiers from the heavy armoured Battle Group Eagle, comprising of soldiers from Townsville’s 3rd Brigade (3 Bde).
Their mission was to dislodge a fictitious fighting force that had invaded and taken over an area called the urban operations training facility. In command of a troop of four M1A1 Abraham battle tanks, 2nd Cavalry Regiment Lieutenant Joshua Shorter said the troops formed up near the tanks and from there the marines landed in the Ospreys to the rear.
“We then conducted a tank-infantry assault on the urban facility,” Lieutenant Shorter said.
“It went off very smoothly. The co-ordination and the control measures from the battle group level and brigade level down were very clear, all timings were met, and (it) went very smoothly.”
Practising the transition from the bush to at an urban facility required a lot of rehearsals to ensure they were prepared when it came time to join forces with other countries.
Lt Shorter said Exercise Talisman Sabre was the army’s most important exercise each year.
To have the opportunity to train with coalition partners is one that doesn’t come along frequently, especially in the Covid environment, he said.
The exercise involves more than 17,000 army, navy and air force personnel and sees 8300 Australian forces partner with troops from the US, and smaller contingents from the UK, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand.
It will run across Queensland until Saturday.
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Originally published as Talisman Sabre 2021 plunges into urban combat simulation at the Townsville Field Training Area
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