Defence chiefs meet in Darwin as allies wrap-up Talisman Sabre
Allies have praised the benefits of Talisman Sabre as Defence chiefs prepare to meet in Darwin.
Northern Territory
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With the mainland component of Exercise Talisman Sabre wrapping-up ahead of its conclusion in Papua New Guinea next week, Defence top brass have released details of the exercise that was one of the largest of its type in Australia.
Vice Admiral Justin Jones, Australian Defence Force chief of joint operations, said Defence command travelled to Darwin this weekend to participate in a Conclave featuring military top brass from the 17 participating nations, including Australia.
The largest Talisman Sabre since it was first held in 2005 Vice Admiral Jones said at its peak this month, 43,000 ADF and overseas military personnel were in Australia taking part.
Equipment included 32 ships, eight of which were amphibious, an aircraft carrier each from the UK and United States, 297 aircraft that flew 2000 sorites, and also moved 32 million kilograms of cargo around the country. As well, more than 16,000 military passengers were moved around the country.
Vice Admiral Jones said there had been six live fires, including Friday’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) launch from Mt Bundey military base to Bradshaw and before that, the US launching a mid-range capability Typhon missile from Bradshaw.
“Talisman Sabre is a tactical field training exercise by nature, but over an extraordinary geographic scale,” Vice Admiral Jones said.
“(It’s) 5300km from Christmas Island in the north-western approaches to Australia through the southern New South Wales coast, where we were doing firings with our Japanese colleagues.”
A “continental scale” activity, he said this year’s exercise had three main objectives.
“The first was the value of allies and partners and the messaging that comes with that,” he said.
“The second was to test our posture, and by that I mean force-flowing those people and assets into the country and around the country.
“Most importantly, combined joint war fighting rehearsal, and we’ve done exactly that across the northeast and north of Australia over the last two weeks.
“Those 19 participants are all like-minded, they’re friends, allies and partners who have a shared vision for our region, if not our world, for a peaceful, stable, prosperous region based on international law.
“It’s clear we live in unstable times, and our own National Defence Strategy made that very point about strategic competition in our region. I’ll leave it to others to judge what has brought 17 nations to Australia, but in my view it’s a willingness to operate with like-mindeds and the value that comes from that.”
Deputy Chief of Joint Operations, Major General Hugh McAslan said 440 New Zealand Defence Force personnel were participating including a frigate, an aviation detachment, a land combat element and pre-existing in-beds around Australia.
“When you look north out of Australia and when you look north out of New Zealand, you see two very different environments,” he said. “Both those environments are absolutely intertwined, into each country’s national interest
“We’re trading nations, we’re maritime nations and we require that rules based system to function for our prosperity. Those interests are pretty common, and that’s what we need for our prosperity for our two countries, but for our region.”
The Exercise Talisman Sabre Conclave involving the chiefs of joint operations or their equivalents from participating defence forces, begins in Darwin and concludes on Monday.
Originally published as Defence chiefs meet in Darwin as allies wrap-up Talisman Sabre