35,00 troops, 19 nations join in massive military exercise
In a Monday press release, the U.S. Army announced that Exercise Talisman Sabre 25 'formally commenced today from the flight deck of HMAS Adelaide in Sydney Harbor, launching military activities involving 19 nations and over 30,000 service members across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.' The Army noted that this year's joint military exercise is the 'largest bilateral military training event between the United States and Australia to date.'
Lt. Gen. Joel B. Vowell, deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, explained that Exercise Talisman Sabre provides two main things for U.S. forces in the region.
'It's readiness to respond when our nations call us to do that, and it's effectively a deterrent mechanism, because our ultimate goal, part two here, is no war,' Vowell said. 'By rehearsing, by practicing together, by staying in tune with each other, we are providing that readiness to our armies, our navies, our air forces, our space forces, our cyber forces.'
According to The Associated Press, Monday's military exercise activities included Australia the launching of missiles from the country's M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which was recently purchased from the United States.
Brig. Nick Wilson announced, '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.'
READ MORE: Video: US military presence expands in Australia amid tension with China
The Associated Press reported that the United States and Australia started the joint Talisman Sabre exercise in 2005. The outlet cited Australia's defense department, which said that over 35,000 military personnel would be participating in this year's exercise.
Australia, the United States, Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom are participating in this year's military exercise, according to The Associated Press.
In addition to the military exercise activities in Australia, The Associated Press reported that this year's joint exercise will also feature activities in Papua New Guinea. According to the outlet, Australian Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy noted that Chinese surveillance ships have previously monitored the last four Talisman Sabre exercises off Australia's coast and are expected to monitor this year's exercise as well.
'The Chinese military have observed these exercises since 2017. It'd be very unusual for them not to observe it,' Conroy stated. '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.'
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