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Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023 has been celebrated as the “Olympics of war games” by US and Australian Defence Force troops on the ground.
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There are 13 countries taking part in the 10th iteration of the biennial exercise across 15 days in northern Australia.
During the exercise, troops perform large-scale logistics and amphibious assault training operations and multinational firepower demonstrations to simulate operations against an enemy designed to have “comprehensive overmatch” over the coalition.
Australian Army Colonel Ben McLennan, commander of the Australian Defense Force’s Combat Training Centre, welcomed international and domestic media representatives to the Townsville Field Training Area on 24 July.
“You’re currently standing in what we call the Field of Dreams,” he said.
“This activity that’s occurring here is just the richest, most immersive, and most realistic, no-consequence training environment that we can possibly create.
“We’re calling it the Olympics of war games because it’s the biggest, most ambitious Talisman Sabre ever.
“That enemy element has all the capabilities across space, cyber, land, maritime, and air that one would anticipate a peer threat to be able to bring to bear against Australia, United States, and coalition partners.”
The training itself serves as a “demonstration of collective resolve” on behalf of each nation to preserve the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, COL McLennan said.
“United States and Australia have been aligned, have been close allies, and have been working together, training together for generations,” he said.
“But what we’re achieving here is really an amazing break into a new chapter in our story when it comes to how we train together, learning how we might operate together, how we might fight together.”
More than 30,000 troops are participating in the full exercise, with 10,000 participating in the field portion.
Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center operations commander, US Army Colonel Ben Martin said the scenario “reads right out of the most recent, emerging doctrine from both of our countries”.
“Big exercises like this are where we can induce the fog and friction of stress, the closest we can get to actual real combat on our respective combined forces, so that when that day comes, that they’re trained and they’re ready,” he said.
Putting that doctrine into practice in a realistic and dynamic training environment is critical for being prepared to win in the next conflict, he said.
