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ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BASE DARWIN, Australia — U.S. and Australian forces at RAAF Base Darwin stand poised and ready to begin Talisman Sabre 2011.
Talisman Sabre is a biennial training activity jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Defence Force Joint Operations Command to train the U.S. 7th Fleet and Australian Deployable Joint Headquarters staffs as a designated Combined Task Force. More than 22,000 military members are participating in the training exercise throughout Australia, July 11-29.
TS11 concentrates on the interoperability between the Australian and United States militaries,” said Group Capt. Scott Winchester, Commander of the Task Unit Headquarters-North RAAF Darwin.
He said there will be several different types of wartime scenarios that will be conducted to exercise the planning and execution stages of war-time fighting between the Australians and the Americans.
“At Darwin and Tindal, there will be a simulated air exercise, which will involve both U.S. military assets as well as Royal Australian Air Force assets,” GP Capt. Winchester said. “There will be a series of 'Blue-on-Red' engagements conducting a range of both offensive and defensive air missions.”
Not only will base personnel be providing combat training and air support, they will also be involved in day-to-day exercise contingency operations and be tested during possible simulated terrorist attacks.
A squadron of F-15C Eagles and two KC-135 Stratotankers from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan will be here in support of the exercise.
Tindal Air Base has Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, which includes Hornets from No. 75 Squadron and a single Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft from 2 Squadron. This is the first year the Wedgetail has been used during Talisman Sabre.
The U.S. Navy also has the USS George Washington aircraft carrier off the coast of Darwin that will be supporting and participating in this year’s exercise.
This year also marks the first time there will be significant involvement from other Australian and U.S. government agencies.
Active participation by Australian government agencies includes the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, AusAID, Australian Federal Police, and the Asia Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence.
The inclusion of civil agencies this year will help to strengthen civil-military collaboration for future operations and the bilateral partnerships between the U.S. and Australia.
Personnel will be conducting sea, land, and air training predominantly in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area near Rockhampton, but also in Royal Australian Air Force Bases in Townsville, Darwin, Tindal and Amberley. Exercises will also be conducted in the maritime areas of the Coral, Timor and Arafura Seas.
“Every time we work closely with our U.S. allies, we have an opportunity to look at our procedures in how we conduct warfighting,” Winchester said.
“Exercises like Talisman Sabre provide the ideal opportunity to look at how we conduct a campaign and how we interact with the U.S. military forces, to work closely with them, learn off of each other, and make the necessary improvements for next time around.”
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2011 09:27 |
| Story ID: | 73894 |
| Location: | TOWNSHEND, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AU |
| Web Views: | 114 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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