BACK AND BIGGER THAN EVER, TALISMAN SABRE 2025.

 

Planning for TS25 has begun as Royal Navy’s HMS Prince of Wales sets sail to partake in the exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article: Jaryd Stock
Images: Jaryd Stock and UK MoD (Crown Copyright)

 

Australia will host the largest ever Exercise Talisman Sabre from 13 July to 4 August 2025. Over 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to participate in activities across Australia, and for the first time, in Papua New Guinea.

Now in its eleventh iteration, Talisman Sabre is the largest bilateral combined training activity between the Australian Defence Force and the United States military, reflecting the closeness of our Alliance.

Participating partner nations in Talisman Sabre 2025 also include Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom.

Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam will also attend as observers.

Talisman Sabre 2025 will focus on multi-domain warfighting. Key activities will include amphibious and airborne lodgements, firepower demonstrations, and combat across land, air, sea, space and cyber domains.

The logistics for preparing, staging, integrating and moving forces to and around Australia are the most complex ever undertaken for a Talisman Sabre.

The activities are scheduled to take place right across the nation, including Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and on Christmas Island.

 

 

For the first time ever, Papua New Guinea will also host an activity, highlighting the growing capabilities and interoperability with Pacific partners as Papua New Guinea marks its 50th Anniversary of Independence.

Chief of ADF Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones stated “Talisman Sabre demonstrates our enduring Alliance with the United States, through deepening cooperation in training and force integration.

“It is a key opportunity to work with our partners from across the region and around the globe, demonstrating our combined capability to achieve large-scale operational outcomes together.

As well as welcoming the largest ever contingent of partner nations, Australia is also excited to be holding part of this year’s exercise in Papua New Guinea. This is an important demonstration of the deepening integration between Australia and Papua New Guinea’s Defence Forces.

It’s again expected that various military aviation units from the U.S. and for the first time the United Kingdom will deploy to Australia for the first time.

Royal Navy’s HMS Prince of Wales departed Portsmouth yesterday evening (22/04 AEST) with her Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and will conduct a eight month cruise that will take in the Middle East and Indo Pacific regions. UK Ministry of Defence confirmed to APD that the Prince of Wales CSG conducting Operation Highmast would be conducting training with the ADF and U.S. during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.

 

 

 

Prince of Wales and its embarked air wing comprising of 617 Squadron from the Royal Air Force and 809 Squadron from the Royal Navy will mark the first time two F-35B Lightning Squadrons have embarked on a Queen Elizabeth class carrier for a deployment marking a special milestone in deployment for the Royal Navy.

“This Operation is a key milestone for the Lightning programme, highlighting our progress towards achieving full operational capability for the F-35 in the UK. By deploying two F-35 Squadrons, we are enhancing our ability to effectively support our allies in the region.” Group Captain John Butcher Lightning Air Wing Commander stated.

617 Squadron is the famed ‘Dambusters’ squadron which formed in 1943 and were tasked with the successful bombing campaign of dams in the Ruhr Valley using the Barnes Wallis-designed Upkeep ‘bouncing bomb’. Flown on 16/17 May, the raid destroyed the Eder and Möhne dams.

For the first time, unmanned aerial vehicles will deploy with the HMS Prince of Wales. 700X NAS are due to embark with nine Malloy T-150 drones, which will be able to transfer light payloads between ships without the use of a helicopter or replenishment at sea rig. They will also fly the RQ-20 Puma fixed wing UAV in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capacity.

 

 

This deployment marks the most ambitious undertaking by the UK CSG since the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s global voyage in 2021, as HMS Prince of Wales currently leads Operation Highmast. The mission will navigate the Mediterranean, Middle East, Indian Ocean, and Pacific, conducting high-end exercises with significant allies globally.

4,500 personnel will deploy with the CSG during major exercises that are scheduled during parts of the journey. 2,100 of these personnel are British, while the remainder are split between the ships of Norway, Canada, and Spain that are joining the deployment. Royal Air Force are also deploying Typhoons to participate in the exercise.

 

 

 

The United States again will be a significant contributor to Talisman Sabre 25 with the U.S. Navy also sending one of its Nimitz class aircraft carriers currently operating in the Western Pacific region. At time of writing it is not known if the USS Nimitz will deploy to Australia or the USS George Washington both of which are currently operating in the Western Pacific, but it is expected one will stay North while the other journeys South to participate in the exercise.

Defence News reported back in late March that the U.S. Army plans to conduct a live firing with its Typhon missile system in Australia during the Talisman Sabre exercise, marking the first firing of the long-range strike weapon on foreign soil, according to Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, program executive officer for missiles and space.

“The Army will deploy its second battery and will fire an SM-6 missile from the system’s launcher”, he stated.

 

 

The exercise comes at a key time for Australian Defence Force units and key allied partners and this year’s exercise will demonstrate ADF’s ability to receive large volumes of personnel and equipment into Australia from across the Indo-Pacific, to stage, integrate and move and project them forward into the large exercise area.

“Considerable planning has gone into a safe and productive exercise for all participants”, said Talisman Sabre Exercise Director, Brigadier Damian Hill:

“Talisman Sabre 2025 will be held across a range of Defence and non-Defence training areas throughout northern Australia. I thank the traditional owners, landowners, state authorities, and key community stakeholders who have helped us develop a safe and productive exercise for all participating nations.”