Operation Talisman Sabre launches at Darwin air force base
Up to 5000 troops from 13 different countries are descending on the Top End for the defence force’s biggest US-Australia war games.
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The biggest joint war games between Australia and the United States is under way, with up to 5000 troops in the Top End building air force capabilities between the allies.
Operation Talisman Sabre involves a total of 30,000 military personnel from 13 nations stationed across the country focused on improving shared land, air and naval military forces.
The Royal Australian Air Force Darwin base is hosting the Air Task Group Headquarters for the biggest and most complex version of the biannual training exercise, now in its 10th iteration.
United States Air Force Colonel Brian Baldwin said the Top End base offered a “tremendous opportunity” to train in isolated and open airspace, and served the allies’ commitment to ensuring “a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
About 100 aircraft from the Australian and US forces will be practising “high end warfighting” operations out of the Darwin, Tindal and Curtin bases.
“Whether it’s for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief or defence of the homeland, anytime we can get a chance to continue to work on these relationships, practice together, and get more interoperable, it makes us both much more efficient and much more capable of ensuring a peaceful and stable region,” Colonel Baldwin said.
A Chinese vessel this week stationed itself in international waters off the Queensland coast to observe Talisman Sabre exercises at Shoalwater Bay.
RAAF Commander Air Task Group, Air Commodore Peter Robinson said it was “well within their rights to do so”.
“There are international rules about freedom of navigation, and we respect those rules.
“The Chinese ship is abiding by those international rules, and our expectation is that all nations will abide by those rules.”
China sent two intelligence gathering vessels to observe Talisman Sabre 2021, and one ship in 2019.
Commander Robinson reaffirmed the US-Australia alliance as critical for national and regional security.
“The United States is our nearest and dearest partner,” he said.
“One of the things the West has done very well under the leadership of the United States since World War II is we have built very, very strong alliances.
“It is something that gives the West a lot of power to ensure the global rules based order is something we can influence across the rest of the world.”
Along with the US, participants from Fiji, France, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany were participating in Talisman Sabre.
The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand were attending as observers to the exercise.
The training exercise runs for two weeks until August 4.
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Originally published as Operation Talisman Sabre launches at Darwin air force base
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