For the first time, sophisticated US Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft have deployed to Australia as part of the large-scale multinational, multidomain Talisman Sabre military exercise, Defense News reports.
The exercise, codenamed Talisman Sabre, is taking place throughout northern and eastern Australia for three weeks starting from July 13. It brings together more than 35,000 military personnel from the militaries of 19 nations including that of host Australia, the US, the United Kingdom and Japan training on land, airspace and waters around Australia, according to a news release from the US Embassy in Australia.
Notably, this year’s edition marks the first time a US Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint from the 55th Wing, normally at Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska, and a US Navy P-8A Poseidon fitted with specialized ISR and communications suites, have taken part in the biennial exercise.
The latter is from the Dallas-based Naval Air Systems Command-Flight Support Detachment test & evaluation unit and was photographed in Australia by locals carrying the belly mounted AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor (AAS) multifunction radar and Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) Satellite Communications (SATCOM) system on top of its fuselage.
According to Naval Air Systems Command, the AAS is an integrated ISR and targeting system with the additional capability of Mast and Periscope Detection for detecting submarines, while the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) describes MUOS is a narrowband, beyond line-of-sight system that can provide “10 times the throughput capacity of current narrowband SATCOM”
Justin Bronk, the Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Breaking Defense that both aircraft would bring exceptional Signals Intelligence and Electronic Intelligence gathering capabilities.
The P-8A also possesses anti-submarine and surface search capabilities, and excellent cross domain communications and data-sharing support to the exercise.
“It’s not surprising to see these assets taking part in Talisman Sabre given how inherently multi-domain any high-end air-led operations would need to be to be effective in the Indo-Pacific,” he added.
Another notable first participant in this year’s exercise: the Singaporean military.
Singapore’s Ministry of Defence said that two of its M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers and two Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters are participating at the exercise, with its HIMARS taking part in a multinational live fire exercise with vehicles from Australia and the US on July 14.
More than 100 personnel from the Southeast Asian nation will be taking part in the exercise, including from the Special Operations Task Force of the Singaporean army and Republic of Singapore Air Force Special Operations Aviation Task Group crew.
The latter, flying CH-47F Chinooks, have been seen flying together with MH-47F Chinooks and MH-60L Blackhawk helicopters of the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and Australian UH-60M helicopters in the lead up to the exercise.
Euan Graham, Senior Analyst on Defence Strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that the presence of Singaporean special forces at the exercise is noteworthy.
“Singapore has advanced military capabilities that no other partner in Southeast Asia comes close to, so for them to take part in Talisman Sabre is an opportunity for them to drill as part of a large coalition force, and at the more complex end of the activity spectrum,” he added
