The biennial Talisman Sabre exercises are the principal Australian and US bilateral training activities and over 29,000 personnel, 200 aircraft and 21 warships participated in the 2015 event.

Nigel Pittaway | Melbourne

Hosted in both the NT and Queensland, Talisman Sabre 2015 took place between July 5 and 20 and, for the first time, also included personnel and equipment from Japan and NZ. The exercise was the sixth in the series and had a greater footprint in Northern Australia than in previous years, including an amphibious landing in an area that is not a Defence training area.

Importantly, the exercise was also a significant waypoint in the development of the ADF’s amphibious warfare capability with 2RAR, the Army’s land manoeuvre elements associated with planning for the capability, taking part in the landings.

Commodore Philip Spedding, Director General Australian Defence Simulation and Training Centre & J7 Headquarters, Joint Operations Command said that the Talisman Sabre series is the largest combined exercise that Australia undertakes and one which concentrates on high-end, medium intensity conflict, designed to improve the preparedness of and the interoperability between the two countries.

“The exercise has continued to grow in richness and complexity over the iterations since the first one back in 2005 and this exercise was different in a number of ways, not the least of which was a clear focus on the Northern Territory,” he explained to ADM.

“To that end, we had major land force activity in the Bradshaw Field Training Area; we had maritime manoeuvre units operating in the Arafura Sea and the approaches to Darwin which included the USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group and an Expeditionary Strike Group, which was the amphibious capability.”

The USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group included three other surface units and the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31 MEU), as well as Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) ship to shore connectors and Bell-Boeing MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

RNZN officers brief the CO of HMNZS Endeavour as the ship prepares to leave Darwin upon completion of the joint exercise Talisman Sabre 2015. Credit: Defence

Also taking part in the exercise were Australian-based US forces, comprising a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF), constructed around the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment currently based at Robertson Barracks as part of the 1250-strong Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D), a combat logistics detachment and an aviation element of four Sikorsky CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters, based at RAAF Darwin.

While the main focus was on the NT there was also significant activity on the East Coast, primarily in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA), which began with Exercise Hamel, the Australian Army’s major land manoeuvre exercise. Hamel is conducted under the Talisman Sabre umbrella and designed to exercise the ‘Readying’ Brigade, this year 7 Brigade.

The US Army conducted a mass air drop of over 400 combat troops from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division into the SWBTA during TS15. The troops had flown directly from the US aboard seven C-17A transports and, after conducting land manoeuvre operations, re-embarked aboard the transports for the flight home.

“It was a real demonstration of US reach and agility and the ability to use airpower to project land forces,” CDRE Spedding said.

Other long range missions were flown by B-52H bombers which dropped weapons on the Delamere Weapons Range after flying directly from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.

Talisman Sabre is also a major certification exercise and activities included the renewal of the US 7th Fleet Commander’s certification as a Combined Task Force Commander and the certification of Australia’s 7 Brigade.

Japan and NZ

Japan Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) participated in TS15 as embedded units within US Forces which is significant as, like Australia, Japan is developing an indigenous amphibious warfare capability.

NZ Defence Force (NZDF) personnel were also participating for the first time, as embedded forces within the ADF.

“The Japanese Self Defence Force provided a small contingent which operated wholly under US Command & Control and a larger NZ Defence Force participation, which was under Australian Command & Control and in that way they gained extremely valuable exposure to these major events,” CDRE Spedding detailed. “It was successful and they were welcomed, but it didn’t change the basis of the exercise being bilateral, and that’s very important.”

Amphibious landings

An amphibious landing was undertaken in Fog Bay, south-west of Darwin on July 11and was significant in that it took place in an area that is not a Defence Training Area.

The US Expeditionary Strike Group joined with one of the Royal Australian Navy’s amphibious warfare ships, HMAS Choules and elements of 2RAR were embarked aboard the USS Green Bay for the amphibious landing which followed.

“It was an opportunity to practice amphibious operations in a non-Defence Training Area, and it was the first time that we had exercised at Fog Bay. So we had to achieve the appropriate clearances: from the land owners, the traditional owners, the NT Government and the various agencies that had an interest, including environmental agencies and the NT Department of Indigenous Affairs,” CDRE Spedding said.

“After dealing with the local opposition, the amphibious force then conducted a combination tactical and administrative move down to Bradshaw FTA, where they continued with the majority of their land manoeuvre activities.

“There were in the order of four times the number of soldiers put into the field than had previously exercised in the Bradshaw FTA – which was a significant step up. There was something like 19,000 people in, or proximate to, the NT - out of the whole exercise total of around 29,000 people throughout Australia.”

The increased role of simulation

Talisman Sabre also has a large Command Post Exercise (CPX) overlaid, which engages higher-level headquarters, such as Headquarters Joint Operational Command, down through a range of Command & Control levels to the Brigade level. As such the CPX uses simulation-enabled training to inject a degree of complexity in the planning and execution of large scale manoeuvres that could not be achieved through reliance on live activities.

"Planning is already underway for Talisman Sabre 2017, even though this years’ exercise is still being analysed."

“It was the most complex simulation event we’ve ever undertaken and it is also the most complex simulation that the US has undertaken. It involved a federation of simulation systems; from the Continental US, and the Joint Staff’s J7 branch – based in Suffolk in Virginia, linking with the Pacific Warfighting Centre in Hawaii, and the generation of simulation entities from US deployed forces based in South Korea – at the Korean Battle Simulation Centre (KBSC) and the Korean Air Simulation Centre (KASC),” CDRE Spedding explained to ADM.

“There was also a greatly enhanced role for the ADSTC in Fyshwick, where we provided constructive simulation input and network support to provide training opportunities for Joint Operations Command and other exercise participants.”

Altogether the complex federation of simulation activities spanned four countries and 13 different time zones.

In summary, CDRE Spedding noted that planning was already underway for Talisman Sabre 2017, even though this years’ exercise was still being analysed.

“It is too early to draw any definitive lessons from the exercise, but clearly our interoperability with the US was very sound,” he concluded. “TS 17 hasn’t been finalised yet but it will remain focussed on high-end medium intensity warfare and it will remain a bilateral exercise.”