Australian and Papua New Guinean soldiers work together to eliminate ‘enemies’ in training exercise

An island off the coast of a Papua New Guinea town was brought to life by the rumbling of chinook propellers and small boat engines as Townsville-based ADF and PNGDF soldiers undertook a training mission.

A chinook from the 5th Aviation Regiment at Moem Barracks in Wewak, Papua New Guinea October 18, 2024.

An island off the coast of a Papua New Guinea town was brought to life by the rumbling of chinook propellers and small boat engines as soldiers from 3rd Brigade and the 5th Aviation regiment undertook a full mission profile.

It wasn’t your typical Friday on an island off the coast of Wewak as an influx of soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) hit the ground running to conduct a simulated attack.

The Commanding Officer of 3RAR, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Westhorpe, said a small combined force of Australian and PNGDF soldiers took to the water at first light that morning in small boats after a potential enemy position was identified on the island.

“When they arrived, they made contact with the enemy and took a couple of simulated casualties, and therefore, they requested for a quick reaction force to be enacted from the mainland to fly in and essentially finish the clearance of that enemy position,” he said.

Just after midday, two chinooks touched down a few hundred metres from the enemy position, with dozens of soldiers hitting the ground running.

CO of 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) Lieutenant Colonel Jack Westhorpe Photo: CPL Brandon Grey

Lieutenant Colonel Westhorpe said that the integrated platoon of Australian and Papua New Guinea Defence Force personnel worked well together to overcome the enemy.

“There are always learning points, and particularly when you are trying to integrate with small craft, aircraft, partner force and Australians, it all comes down to the finer details of things,” he said.

“So there’s things to improve but overall the intention here is to provide exposure to everybody about the capabilities available and I think we’ve met that intent, and then some.”

Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and the Papua New Guinean Defence Force on an island off the coast of Wewak Papua New Guinea, for a full mission profile. October 18, 2024

The 2024 National Defence Strategy and Defence strategic review highlighted the need to increase the Australian Defence forces capability in the littoral warfighting domain, which means training in the areas near a sea or lake shore.

“What you can see is the utility and the flexibility, particularly of the infantry callsigns to be able to operate from, whether that be armoured vehicles, helicopters, small boats to achieve force projection into places like island chains and really prove concepts that the guys can operate in that environment,” Lieutenant Colonel Westhorpe said.

He said that on top of the vital amphibious training they were conducting, it was also incredibly useful to be able to learn from the PNGDF about surviving in the jungle.

“Typically, the Papua New Guinean people and Australian military have a long and unusual history together,” Lieutenant Colonel Westhorpe said.

“It kind of spawns out of the Second World War where the PNG community was critical for us and how we were successful in operations in PNG.”

“They really teach us how to operate and behave in the jungle. They thrive, and we tend to survive, and that’s why we can learn from them and share some skills with them around urban and long-range communications and so on.”

Originally published as Australian and Papua New Guinean soldiers work together to eliminate ‘enemies’ in training exercise