Talisman Saber Exercise Picks Up Pace in Australia

Exercise Talisman Saber in Australia gets underway in earnest July 13. Over the past week, participating units from all branches of service of the U.S. military and Australian Defence Force have been conducting training and familiarization in preparation for joint and combined drills focused on contingency response operations and crisis action planning.

The field training portion of the exercise will be concentrated in the Shoalwater Bay Training area near Rockhampton, as well as the Townsville Field Training Area in Queensland.

Air operations are also taking place in and off the Northern Territory of Australia, as highlighted in a recent article in the Sunday Territorian.

Australia is a strong U.S. ally in the Pacific, and Talisman Saber, which is jointly sponsored by U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and the Australian Defence Force Joint Operations Command, is an opportunity to further develop the high level of interoperability that already exists between U.S. and Australian forces. More than 20,000 U.S. and 10,000 Australian personnel are to take part.

You can follow the exercise via the Australian Defence Force Talisman Saber website, as well as the U.S. exercise website. Both sites have and will continue to capture the varied events that take place leading up to, and throughout the large scale exercise. Also, become a friend of Talisman Saber on Facebook for updates, and check out the video stories on the exercise’s YouTube page.