Special Report: Largest ‘Talisman Sabre' kicks off in Australia
The Republic of Korea Marine Corps operates the K1A2 Main Battle Tank during a live-fire activity at Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area during Exercise ‘Talisman Sabre' 2025. (Department of Defence)
Beginning 13 July, the combined military power of 19 countries from around the world arrayed themselves against a common ‘enemy', the notional ‘People's Republic of Olvana'. This demonstration of resolve is occurring under the auspices of Exercise ‘Talisman Sabre' 2025, held in and around Australia until 4 August.
Before the 11th iteration of the exercise kicked off, Brigadier Damian Hill, Talisman Sabre's exercise director, told Janes that the event would involve 40,000+ personnel across territory measuring 5,300 km from west to east. “We're welcoming five new nations: India, Singapore, Thailand, the Netherlands, and Norway. And you have two observer nations in Malaysia and Vietnam, who'll come out and have a look at the exercise and determine whether it's something they would seek to participate in in the future.”
Other returning participants are Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Tonga, the United Kingdom, and the US.
Scale
Brig Hill emphasised the exercise's vast scale, spread over more than 80 training areas and bases and featuring more than 150 aircraft, 30-plus ships, and seven live-fire events. For the first time, Papua New Guinea will host an event too. “I describe this as the mini-Olympics military exercise,” he said.
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