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Australia has officially launched the country’s largest bilateral military exercise, Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, with opening ceremony on board Canberra Class landing helicopter dock HMAS Adelaide.
Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral Justin Jones was joined by the United States Deputy Commanding General of US Army Pacific, Lieutenant General Joel B Vowell, for the official opening at Garden Island, Sydney, over the weekend.
Now in its 11th iteration, Talisman Sabre 2025 is the largest and most sophisticated warfighting exercise ever conducted in Australia.
More than 35,000 military personnel from Australia and partnering nations will deploy across Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, NSW and Christmas Island over the next three weeks. For the first time, activities will also be conducted outside of Australia in Papua New Guinea.
“Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 unites more than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations and provides an unrivalled opportunity to train together across the sea, land, air, space and cyber domains,” VADM Jones said.
“Exercise Talisman Sabre remains a powerful demonstration of Australia’s enduring commitment to strengthening relationships between trusted allies and partners, in support of a peaceful, stable and sovereign Indo-Pacific.
“Defence appreciates the support of the community for our essential training, throughout planning to execution we have been conducting site surveys and meetings with state authorities, traditional owners and key stakeholders to inform a safe and productive exercise for all participating nations.”
In addition to the United States, forces from Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom will join as partners. Malaysia and Vietnam will also attend as observers.
This year’s exercise will consist of live-fire exercises and field training activities, incorporating force preparation activities, amphibious landings, ground force manoeuvres, and air combat and maritime operations.
It will also feature a range of new Australian Defence Force capabilities, including UH-60M Black Hawks and the Precision Strike Missile.
“Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 is a powerful demonstration of our combined strength, trust, interoperability and readiness across the Indo-Pacific. As part of the Combined Joint Force, we train diligently and realistically to integrate capabilities across land, sea, air, cyber and space domains, operating alongside our allies and partners from 19 nations,” LTG Vowell said.
“Exercises like Talisman Sabre allow us to employ war-winning capabilities, operate in critical locations, signal our multinational resolve and galvanise our collective will. This is how we generate deterrence and work towards our ultimate goal: no war.
“Together, we are building tactical trust, practicing our operational manoeuvres and reaffirming our strategic commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
