Australia Kicks Off Biggest War Drills, Beijing Likely Watching
Udumbara
Talisman Sabre, Australia’s largest-ever military exercise, has kicked off, with Beijing expected to take notice.
Now in its 11th and largest iteration, Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 (TS25) traces its origins to 2005 when it began as a biennial joint military exercise between the United States and Australia.
This year’s exercise will consist of live-fire exercises and field training activities, incorporating force preparation activities, amphibious landings, ground force manoeuvres, air combat, and maritime operations.
More than 35,000 military personnel from 19 countries will deploy across Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales, and Christmas Island over the next three weeks. For the first time, activities will also be conducted outside of Australia in Papua New Guinea.
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 UK will join as partners.
Malaysia and Vietnam will also attend as observers.
“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,” said Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral Justin Jones.
“Together, we are building tactical trust, practicing our operational maneuvers, and reaffirming our strategic commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Lieutenant General Joel B. Vowell, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific.
Australia fired missiles from its recently acquired M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) on July 14 during live-fire drills at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area—a 4,500 square kilometre stretch of Outback terrain in Queensland.
The M142 HIMARS, a versatile and highly mobile rocket launcher system designed for long-range precision strikes, was delivered to Australia in March from the United States.
Its acquisition is part of Australia’s broader defence strategy to enhance its long-range strike capabilities and modernise its artillery systems.
“Today was the first time the Australian Army has live-fired our long-range, multi-domain platforms being the HIMARS, so it is a remarkable day,” Brigadier Nick Wilson told reporters.
China Surveillance Ships Expected
Chinese surveillance vessels have observed the past four Talisman Sabre exercises off Australia’s coast, in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023.
They are expected to monitor this year’s drills as well, although they were not yet shadowing ships as of July 13, according to Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy.
The exercise officially commenced on July 13 after an opening ceremony on board HMAS Adelaide at Garden Island, Sydney.
“The Chinese military have observed these exercises since 2017. It’d be very unusual for them not to observe it,” he said.
“We’ll adjust accordingly. We’ll obviously observe their activities and monitor their presence around Australia, but we’ll also adjust how we conduct those exercises.”
.
The exercise came just one day after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began his six-day visit to China, where he had a “constructive meeting” with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping on July 15.
Albanese talked about a range of issues with Xi during the meeting, including trade, national security, detained Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, while the topics of U.S. President Donald Trump, the port of Darwin, and Chinese surveillance of Talisman Sabre were not mentioned.
AP contributed to this report.
.
