![]() It’s getting us ready for the next big fight because that’s how we force package and how we actually go to war.” It’s all basically practicing how we play. The outlet cited US Air Force Captain Christopher Loo, who said: “You’re talking about getting 40 to 50 aircraft all up in the same piece of sky-super complex. Air Force pilots flew a series of elaborate training missions with their Royal Australian Air Force counterparts, involving multiple fighter, tanker and patrol aircraft.” This included trials of air-to-air refuelling of war planes, transporting weapons systems long distances across the Australian mainland, establishing “a temporary three-kilometre-long ship-to-shore petroleum line in North Queensland” and “a 540 metre floating pier at Bowen, Queensland.”Ībove all, the exercises were aimed at cementing the geopolitical and military relationships necessary for war.Īn article by another industry publication, Aerotech News, explained: “Throughout the 15-day exercise aimed at enhancing interoperability among key allies, U.S. The Reporter noted that Japanese forces had conducted their “first live fire of a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Type 12 Surface-to-Ship and Type 3 Chu-SAM Surface-to-Air missiles in Australia.” South Korea had “deployed its K-239 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and K-9 ‘Thunder’ Self-Propelled artillery system to Australia for the first time.”Ī particular emphasis was also placed on logistical operations that could sustain a war effort. Clearly, what was being trialled was a capability that could be dispatched rapidly in the Indo-Pacific, well beyond Australian shores, in the event of a war with China. However, they also emphasised the rapid mobility that was displayed and the potential for broader deployment. ![]() Defence stated: “Within moments of touchdown, the HIMARS proceeded past the runway to its designated firing point and fired the missile before reboarding the for immediate departure.”ĭefence officials presented the capability as a means of defending northern Australia and practising “area denial” in the seas to its north. They were rapidly unloaded on a dirt airstrip. In their first Australian trial, the ATACMS were transported by an American military plane. This activity demonstrated complex logistical support and coordination between Australian and US forces to employ this system across vast distances as part of a multi-domain strike capability.” The ATACMS system is highly mobile and has a range of 300km. It noted: “In an Australian-first, the ADF were able to work with our US partners to employ the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which successfully fired and struck a long range target. The Reporter and other hawkish publications particularly highlighted the display of strike capabilities in the exercises. In total “over 500 individual missions” were “conducted across the North and North West of Australia from more than 50 deployed aircraft to support decisive airpower covering 7,000 kilometres of Australian coastline.” “More than 17,000 personnel operated in the maritime environment across 27 ships and submarines,” it boasted, and “More than 17,500 deployed in land-based field training areas across Australia’s Top End, between far north Western Australia to Weipa in Queensland, and as far south as Jervis Bay, NSW.” Firepower, strike capabilities and frightening raids were all portrayed as part of a broader push to present the military as being capable of “impactful projection” throughout the region.Īn article in the Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, an industry publication, highlighted the scale of Talisman Sabre, as well as the “firsts” that it had entailed. ![]() Even a pretense of “defence” was lacking. ![]() The videos of the exercises, posted on Facebook, make clear that what were being trialled were aggressive capabilities. Behind the banalities, however, enough material has come out to brand the exercises as a disturbing preparation for war against China on a vast scale, one which claimed four lives and included the use of advanced weaponry, along with urban warfare exercises that can only be interpreted as a threat to the population. What has been released is of a promotional character. Significantly, they involved new nations, such as France and Germany, underscoring the push by NATO powers into the Indo-Pacific as the US-led confrontations with Russia and China become meshed into a single conflict.Īs is always the case with such exercises, the public is provided with minimal information. The WSWS has already noted the scope of the exercises, which were far and away the largest in the country’s history. ![]() With over 34,000 personnel participating from 14 nations, the war games had the character of a massive military operation. The biannual Talisman Sabre Australian military exercises concluded over the weekend. ![]()
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