Soldiers from 1-1 Air Defense Artillery Battalion fires a Patriot missile during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 on July 16, 2021, at Camp Growl located in Queensland, Australia. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Trevor Wild, 38th ADA BDE Public Affairs.)
Forces from Australia, United States and Japan demonstrated the firepower amassed for Exercise Talisman Sabre in a live fire exercise today at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland.
Live fire strikes were conducted from sea, land and air onto Townsend Island and Pyri Pyri within the Central Queensland military range complex.
Major General Jake Ellwood, Commander of Australia’s Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, said the exercise was an impressive display of coordination and capability.
“On Friday we saw the first ever Australian firing of a Patriot air defence missile system, which was just tremendous and a real privilege to see in action,” Major General Ellwood said.
“And today, we stepped up the complexity of training with combined strikes involving several of our participating nations.”
The exercise employed naval gun fire, fixed and rotary wing air strikes, and artillery including the United States Marine Corps High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HiMARS).
“It was particularly pleasing to see Japanese Ship Makiname firing the five-inch guns alongside Australian and United States ships,” Major General Ellwood said.
“In the coming days our forces will shift gears again and advance up the Queensland coast to conduct amphibious landings, maritime and air warfare training, and much more.”
Exercise Talisman Sabre is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States, involving around 17,000 personnel.
This year’s exercise includes participating forces from Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The live-fire exercise at Shoalwater Bay involved the following platforms:
- M-777 Howitzer (Australian and United States)
- High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (United States Marine Corps and United States Army)
- AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters (United States)
- Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (Australian)
- Shadow Unmanned Aerial System (Australian)
- F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (United States Marine Corps)
- F/A-18A Hornets (Australian)
- CH-47 Chinook (Australian)
- UH-1Y Iroquois (United States)
- Naval gun fire from:
- HMAS Ballarat (Australian)
- HMAS Parramatta (Australian)
- USS Rafael Peralta (United States)
- JS Makiname (Japan)
