Townsville forces among the 2000 personnel participating in Exercise Keris Woomera
The largest joint exercise to ever be conducted between the ADF and Indonesian National Armed Forces has concluded with Townsville forces among the 2000 participating personnel.
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The largest joint exercise ever to be conducted between the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) recently concluded with Townsville tanks, artillery weapons and soldiers taking part in the mammoth bilateral activity.
Last week, 2000 personnel took to the water, land and air in East Java, Indonesia, for Exercise Keris Woomera.
Commander Landing Forces Colonel Judd Finger said the week-long activity was part of the overarching Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2024.
“It is run and led by the Australian Defence Forces, what we call the Australian Amphibious force, and we participated with Indonesian navy vessels, Army, Marines, and air force,” he said.
The 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Combat Service Support Battalion, 4th Regiment Royal Australian Artillery from the 3rd Brigade participated in the Exercise.
Townsville’s 2nd Royal Australian Regiment and 10th Force Service Support Battalion also took part.
Simulated air assaults, amphibious demonstrations, non-combatant evacuation operations and a live fire exercise were conducted throughout the week-long exercise.
“We do bilateral activities for our neighbours in the region where these sorts of capabilities are deployed annually, but for the first time, we’re conducting live fire activities with the Indonesians on their home soil,” Colonel Finger said.
“Live fire is one of the most complex activities you conduct with militaries, and it’s a real sign of how good our relationship is, where our integration with the Indonesians is at a point where we can conduct combined live fire.”
As part of the exercise, 32 TNI soldiers integrated with the ADF on board HMAS Adelaide during their voyage to Indonesia.
“They live together. They eat together, they train together,” Colonel Finger said.
“They have skills transfer, tactics, procedures transfer … and our young soldiers, sailors and aviators do a great job,” Colonel Finger said.
Colonel Finger said these activities are crucial to ensure both militaries have the ability to co-operate effectively.
“When it comes to times of need, such as high-risk weather season events or humanitarian events, we have the ability to speak with each other, to work together, to co-operate and effectively conduct bilateral, multilateral activities in support of our national interest.”
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Originally published as Townsville forces among the 2000 personnel participating in Exercise Keris Woomera
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