IRIA News

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Australia is hosting the largest iteration of its premier military exercise, Talisman Sabre, with over 35,000 troops from 19 nations participating in the three-week-long drills.

This year’s exercise is not only unprecedented in size but also geopolitically significant, as it comes at a time of rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific and is expected to attract close attention from Chinese surveillance ships.

Held biennially since 2005, Talisman Sabre began as a joint military exercise between Australia and the United States. Over the years, it has evolved into a broad multilateral defense collaboration.

In 2025, the exercise includes participation from a wide range of nations across Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. Besides Australia and the United States, this year Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom are participating in the exercise. Malaysia and Vietnam are also attending as observers.

The centerpiece of the live-fire portion of the exercise took place at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, a vast 4,500 square kilometer military zone in Queensland’s Outback. Australian forces conducted a high-profile launch of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), recently acquired from the United States.

“Today was the first time the Australian Army has live-fired our long-range, multi-domain platforms, including the HIMARS, so it is a remarkable day,” Brig. Nick Wilson said. The successful test-fire marked a new era in Australia’s precision strike capabilities and was widely viewed as a message of deterrence and strategic preparedness amid evolving regional threats.

Expansion beyond Australian territory

For the first time in the history of Talisman Sabre, the drills are also taking place outside Australian territory, in neighboring Papua New Guinea, highlighting the exercise’s growing regional footprint and significance.

But while the scale of cooperation among allies has expanded, so has the scrutiny. Chinese surveillance ships are expected to monitor the exercise closely, as they have done in previous years. According to Australia’s Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy, Chinese naval vessels have been observing Talisman Sabre drills since 2017, a trend likely to continue this year.

“The Chinese military have observed these exercises since 2017. It’d be very unusual for them not to observe it,” Conroy said. “We’ll adjust accordingly. We’ll obviously observe their activities and monitor their presence around Australia, but we’ll also adjust how we conduct those exercises.”

As of Sunday, Chinese ships had not yet been spotted shadowing the allied fleet, but Canberra remains on alert. While the exercises are defensive in nature, their scale and symbolism are not lost on Beijing, particularly given the growing alignment between Australia, the U.S., and like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific.

The formal start of the exercise was marked by a ceremony in Sydney, attended by senior military leaders, including Deputy Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific Lt. Gen. J.B. Vowell and Australia’s Chief of Joint Operations Vice-Adm. Justin Jones.

The display of joint force projection underscores a continued deepening of the Australia–U.S. alliance, particularly in response to China’s expanding influence and assertive posture across the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and broader Pacific.

Strategic timing with Australian prime minister’s China visit

Coincidentally, the military exercises began just as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese embarked on a high-profile six-day visit to China. Albanese is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for their fourth face-to-face meeting, highlighting the delicate balancing act Canberra must maintain, strengthening deterrence and alliances without fully derailing diplomatic engagement with Beijing.

“That would be nothing unusual. That has happened in the past and I’ll continue to assert Australia’s national interest, as I do,” Albanese told reporters in Shanghai when asked whether he would bring up Chinese surveillance of Talisman Sabre with President Xi.

Balancing alliances and diplomacy

Despite the sensitivity of timing, Albanese made clear that strategic exercises like Talisman Sabre are part of Australia’s sovereign right to prepare for national defense and to cooperate with allies. His comments are consistent with the broader narrative that Australia seeks a stable, rules-based order in the region, one in which no single power dominates.

Albanese also noted that while he had visited the United States five times as Prime Minister, he had only traveled to China twice, signaling both the centrality of the U.S. alliance in Australian foreign policy and the pragmatic need to engage with China, its largest trading partner.

The Australian prime minister has recently faced criticism at home for failing to secure a face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. In response, he said, “I look forward to a constructive engagement with President Trump. We have had three constructive phone conversations.”

Integrated Indo-Pacific security network

For Australian defense officials, the exercise is a message of readiness and resolve. The successful HIMARS launch, greater multinational participation, and expansion into new geographic areas like Papua New Guinea show that Australia is serious about increasing its deterrence posture while contributing meaningfully to regional peace and stability.

At the same time, the presence of countries like Japan, South Korea, India, and the Philippines reflects a broader Indo-Pacific alignment that mirrors similar groupings like the Quad and AUKUS. These partnerships suggest a shift toward integrated deterrence strategies among democracies in the region, many of whom share concerns over China’s military modernization and coercive behavior in contested zones.

While Talisman Sabre 2025 is not explicitly aimed at any single country, its scale, timing, and message of unity send an unmistakable signal about the kind of security architecture Australia and its partners envision for the region.

Countdown is on! ⏲️

Less than one week ‘til Talisman Sabre 2025. #TS25 #TalismanSabre2025 #YourADF pic.twitter.com/Q3Dbx8Kdv0

— Talisman Sabre (@TalismanSabre) July 9, 2025