40,000 troops, 19 nations: The China threat unites US allies

Australia has been boosting its long-range strike capabilities and will further test its ability to operate out of the strategic north of the country, where the US has been investing in air bases and logistics that could provide rear support in a conflict.

Australian soldiers assisting in beach operations as part of an amphibious landing rehearsal on Cowley Beach on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

Artillery, rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers opened fire at a training area in northern Australia on Monday, kick-starting three weeks of military drills between the US and 18 allies.

The biennial exercise, called Talisman Sabre, is meant to send a message to China: The US and its partners are ready to respond together to aggression from Beijing, which has been increasingly asserting itself in what it regards as its sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific.

“Our resolve to train, and will to prepare and will to fight, that’s not made up,” said Lieutenant General JB Vowell, the deputy commanding general of US Army Pacific, after he watched munitions hit a simulated enemy on a hillside in the training zone.

Australian soldiers come ashore as part of an amphibious landing rehearsal on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

This year’s Talisman Sabre is the 11th and largest iteration of the exercise, officials say. Some 40,000 personnel from 19 nations are involved. The US exercise, which includes Japan, South Korea, The Philippines, India and several European countries, has become a cornerstone of US efforts to deter Beijing from launching a military strike on Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own.

Beijing often sends spy ships to observe the exercise, and Australian officials said they expected China to monitor the drills again.

“The fact that we have 19 nations participating this year in Exercise Talisman Sabre tells you that we’re all in search of a common goal, which is stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific and adherence to international law,” said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for Australia’s military.

Beijing, which has invested heavily in its military in recent years, has conducted increasingly assertive manoeuvres this year, including live-fire navy drills near Australia and sending ships near far-flung Japanese islands. Chinese forces also routinely operate around Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea.

The US has responded to Beijing’s buildup by dispersing its forces more widely and making its units more agile. Meanwhile, multinational exercises are growing in scale,

scope and complexity, as countries in the region realise that they could easily be drawn into a conflict.

“Everyone is seeing the aggressive activities that China is doing,” said Lieutenant General Matthew McFarlane, who commands the US Army’s I Corps. “That’s why they’re more interested in what they need to do to protect their sovereign interests.”

During the exercise, the US and its allies plan to fire key land-based missile systems that will be crucial if Washington wants to control important sea lanes around Taiwan in a conflict. That includes the Typhon missile system, which would be the first time it has been fired west of the international date line.

An Australian Army soldier carries a 155mm round for the M777A2 Howitzer during the combined arms live fire display as part of Talisman Sabre

Some 40,000 personnel from 19 nations are involved in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, the largest-ever joint military drills held across Australia and, for the first time, Papua New Guinea. Picture: Getty Images

Drones are also being tested on land and sea, taking a cue from how important they have become on the battlefields of Ukraine. Amphibious landings and air and sea manoeuvres are planned. And for the first time, the exercise will include an activity in Papua New Guinea, the island nation north of Australia that signed a security deal with the US in 2023.

Australia, which has been boosting its long-range strike capabilities, will further test its ability to operate out of the strategic north of the country, where the US has been investing in air bases and logistics that could provide rear support in a conflict.

“The battlefield of tomorrow is unlikely to be the battlefield of the past,” said Major General E. Darrin Cox, who leads the Army’s 18th Theatre Medical Command in the Pacific, which is working with the Australians to co-ordinate medical support during the exercise. “We need to be thinking about our allies and partners, and how we can best partner with each other.”

China frequently denounces joint drills as provocative, and says they disrupt peace and stability in the region.

The exercise gives the US an opportunity to present a united military front when political tensions have surfaced between Washington and its allies, as the Trump administration pushes other countries to increase military spending. The US is reviewing a plan to sell Australia nuclear-powered submarines, and Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is visiting China this week in an effort to thaw ties.

Himars from the US and allies are launched during the Talisman Sabre military exercise at Shoalwater Bay.

There has also been debate about whether important allies such as Australia and Japan would join the US if Washington decided to defend Taiwan against China. “We don’t engage in hypotheticals,” Australia’s Defence Industry minister, Pat Conroy, said in a television interview over the weekend when asked about the topic.

At the training area in northern Australia, Monday’s drill featured US F-35 jets, Australian and US artillery, South Korean self-propelled howitzers and tanks, and a Japanese surface-to-air missile system.

The manoeuvres also involved truck-based rocket launchers called the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, from the US, Singapore and Australia, which all fired together for the first time.

The vehicle’s ease of manoeuvre and ability to hide has been crucial in helping Ukraine defend against Russia, and the US and its allies could use the system to hit Chinese targets from islands. The US plans to do more drills with the Himars, including deploying them at rapid notice across Australia.

“The Pacific isn’t just blue bits with navies,” said Mick Ryan, a senior fellow for military studies at the Lowy Institute think tank and a retired Australian Army major general. “Armies that can fire long-range missiles at ships also have a say.”

The Wall Street Journal