A two-week military field exercise has been completed, consisting of over 700 Australian Defence Force, US Marine Rotational Force-Darwin and Japan Self-Defense Force soldiers and marines.
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As reported last week by Defence Connect, Exercise Southern Jackaroo provided soldiers and marines the opportunity to complete urban assault training, engineering clearances, artillery fire missions and live-fire activities, while learning additional skills from their international partners.
Australian Army 7th Brigade Commander Brigadier Andrew Hocking said the exercise incorporated complex blank and live-fire scenarios using military assets from all three nations.
"The exercises included US Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys, Japanese FH-70 and Australian M777 Howitzer artillery, and Australian armoured personnel carriers supporting all personnel," BRIG Hocking said.
"This important trilateral training enables our defence forces to understand how one another operate so we can effectively work together in the future. Warfare is a human pursuit, so to have individuals who know each other and trust each other, is a great advantage to our capabilities and to the security of the region."
Exercise Southern Jackaroo also proved a historic moment for the JGSDF, which successfully fired two FH-70 howitzers out to 25 kilometres while in Australia.
The JGSDF conducted the long range shoot in Australia as there isn’t a military range large enough to shoot to that distance in Japan.
Today, we will showcase some of the moments captured by Defence photographers during the trilateral exercise.
Click on the image above to scroll through the photo gallery.