Speaking prior to the opening ceremony of Exercise Talisman Sabre aboard HMAS Adelaide in Sydney on Sunday night, Vice Admiral Justin Jones, ADF Chief of Joint Operations, confirmed he was anticipating Chinese naval monitoring of Australia’s largest military exercise with the United States.
“I fully expect that the People’s Republic of China will want to observe the activities that are part of Exercise Talisman Sabre but as yet there’s no sign of them”, Vice Admiral Jones commented.
“We are able to adapt to that presence; it’s fully expected so it’s catered for in planning the exercise” which, he said , had involved 700 days’ teamwork by Australian and US teams.
More than 35,000 military personnel from Australia, the US and 17 partner nations are participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre from July 13 to August 4. Malaysia and Vietnam are attending as observers.
The focus will be on multi-domain warfighting, with key activities featuring amphibious and airborne lodgements, firepower demonstrations, and combat operations across land, air, sea, space and cyber domains.
Scheduled activities will take place across Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory , New South Wales, and Christmas Island. For the first time, a component will be conducted offshore in Papua New Guinea involving what VADM Jones described as a joint personnel recovery exercise.