Exercise Talisman Sabre 2011 successfully concludes

The largest com­bined Aus­tralian and Unit­ed States mil­i­tary train­ing exer­cise, Tal­is­man Sabre 2011 (TS11), con­clud­ed with a clos­ing cer­e­mo­ny at Camp Rocky, Rock­hamp­ton on Thurs­day.

The cer­e­mo­ny fea­tured a media brief­ing with Aus­tralian spokesper­son Brigadier Bob Brown and activ­i­ties for the U.S. and Aus­tralian troops involved in the Exercise. 

Tal­is­man Sabre is a bien­ni­al mil­i­tary exer­cise that trains Aus­tralian and U.S. forces to plan and con­duct com­bined task force oper­a­tions to improve com­bat readi­ness and inter­op­er­abil­i­ty on a vari­ety of mis­sions, from con­ven­tion­al con­flict to peace­keep­ing and human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance efforts. 

“This exer­cise has been two years in the plan­ning, and we have had a high­ly suc­cess­ful out­come,” said Brigadier Bob Brown. 

Exer­cise Tal­is­man Sabre 2011 fea­tured 14,000 U.S. and 8,500 Aus­tralian per­son­nel across six defence train­ing areas in Queens­land and the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. Mar­itime forces exer­cised in the Coral, Tim­or and Ara­fu­ra Seas. 

“Exer­cise Tal­is­man Sabre 2011 is an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to con­duct oper­a­tions in a com­bined and joint envi­ron­ment, which will increase the U.S. and Aus­tralian capa­bil­i­ties to both respond to crises in this region and pro­vide human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance when called upon,” said Colonel Andrew Mac­Man­nis, com­mand­ing offi­cer of the 31st Marine Expe­di­tionary Unit (MEU).

“We look for­ward to train­ing with our Aus­tralian coun­ter­parts and rein­forc­ing our secu­ri­ty respon­si­bil­i­ties in the Pacif­ic region.” 

The 31st MEU took part in an amphibi­ous land­ing on Fresh­wa­ter Beach, Queens­land on July 19, which involved more than 15 amphibi­ous assault vehi­cles and 350 Marines and sailors. 

In addi­tion to the amphibi­ous land­ing, train­ing oper­a­tions dur­ing Tal­is­man Sabre includ­ed urban oper­a­tions, strate­gic forced inser­tion by a para­chute drop, refugee camp sim­u­la­tions and air-to-air com­bat operations. 

Sev­er­al mil­i­tary and human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance sce­nar­ios were also con­duct­ed with U.S. and Aus­tralian inter­a­gency participation. 

“We have worked, eat­en and trained along­side each oth­er at sea, on the ground and in the air,” said said Brigadier Bob Brown . 

“In doing so we have devel­oped new and last­ing friend­ships between us and our U.S. coun­ter­parts. The deep and endur­ing bond between the peo­ple of our armed forces has only been enhanced by the suc­cess­ful con­duct of Exer­cise Tal­is­man Sabre 2011.” 

In addi­tion to the 22,500 troops, Exer­cise Tal­is­man Sabre 2011 involved an esti­mat­ed 18 sea ves­sels, 25 air­craft and 1,500 road vehicles. 

Media Note:
The Aus­tralian and U.S. Com­bined Joint Infor­ma­tion Bureau (CJIB), which man­aged media and pub­lic enquiries on TS11 activ­i­ties, will close as of 12:00 p.m. Fri­day, 29 July.  After this time all queries should be direct­ed to the Defence Media Room at 

0261 271 999 or U.S. 7th Fleet Pub­lic Affairs at 808–653-2152.

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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