Held in July against a backdrop of escalating tensions with China, Exercise ‘Talisman Sabre 2021' not only enhanced interoperability between the armed forces of the seven participating nations but also introduced new capabilities into what is the largest bilateral training event involving the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the US military.
Two weeks of high-end activities, primarily in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland, saw 17,000 personnel from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States undertake complex training manoeuvres at sea, on land, in the air, and across the information/cyber and space domains.
Chinese interest was underlined by the presence of two People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Dongdiao (Type 815/815A)-class intelligence collection ships off the Queensland coast.
South Korea joined ‘Talisman Sabre' for the first time, contributing Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin (KDX-II)-class guided-missile destroyer Wang Geon. HMAS Brisbane, the first of the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) Hobart-class air warfare destroyers to participate in the exercise, acted as the air and missile defence commander in a maritime warfare scenario involving 20 surface ships, three submarines, and about 60 aircraft.
(From left) USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204), ROKS Wang Geon (DD 978), HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154), USS America (LHA 6), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), JS Makinami (DD 112), USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3), (center) HMCS Calgary (FFH 335), (back) USS New Orleans (LPD 18), HMAS Brisbane (DDG 41), and USS Germantown (LSD 42) steam in formation during Exercise ‘Talisman Sabre 2021'. (Commonwealth of Australia)
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