US military technicians work on a helicopter on USS Blue Ridge at Sydney's Garden Island Naval Base, Monday.Photo: AP
Australia and US launch their biggest joint military exercises
Australia and the United States launched their biggest joint war games Monday, with 27,500 troops backed by a US aircraft carrier engaging in exercises aimed at consolidating the allies' military dominance in the Asia Pacific region.
The biennial Talisman Sabre exercise pits 20,000 US troops and 7,500 Australian forces against two fictional enemies - the Kamarians and Musorians - in a variety of land and sea-based scenarios designed to test their skills in combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian relief efforts.
The exercise, which runs until July 2, will also include 10 US ships, 20 Australian ships and 125 aircraft operating off the coast of Rockhampton in northeastern Queensland state.
"The United States and Australia have a long-standing relationship ... we share the same values and interests. Foremost among those interests is the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region," US Vice Admiral Doug Crowder told reporters on board the USS Blue Ridge in Sydney."Therefore it is very important that our militaries train together to carry out the types of missions our governments may call upon us to execute to ensure regional security and stability."
The exercise comes as the United States and Japan step up efforts to build a joint missile defense system in Asia, partly as a bulwark against regional threats such as a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Australia, a steadfast US ally that maintains around 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, is studying whether to participate in the defense shield, Defense Minister Brendan Nelson announced this month.
Canberra is expanding its military personnel to 30,500 troops from 27,500, and ramping up other defense capabilities as part of an overhaul to take greater responsibility for Asian security.
Japan plans to send observers to the Talisman Sabre operation, Crowder said, but would not expand on what role they might play in the exercise. Australia and Japan signed a security agreement in March that will enable Japanese forces to train alongside Australians for disaster relief and peacekeeping missions, and boost cooperation between the two countries in counterterrorism measures and intelligence sharing.
Meanwhile, environmentalists have voiced concern about the possible dangers of submarine-hunting sonar equipment to whales in the region. The International Whaling Commission issued a report this month saying a mid-frequency sonar sometimes used by US and Australian ships can cause hearing loss and tissue damage in whales and can alter their diving habits.
"A huge part of the planning for this exercise has been the environmental concerns. We have many procedures in place," Crowder said. He would not elaborate on the procedures, saying only that the operation "will be conducted in compliance with all the Australian governmental requirements."
About 100 people gathered Monday outside an army barracks in the northeastern city of Rockhampton to protest the exercises. They laid a wreath and hundreds of shoes at the gate of the barracks to symbolize military and civilian casualties from the Iraq war.
"We mourn all loss of life and we feel the shoes are a very powerful symbol," Robin Taubenfeld, of the environmental group Friends of the Earth said
AP - 18.06.2007 11:32
| 美澳展開歷來最大規模軍演 |
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2萬名美軍及7500名澳軍，在一名美國航空母艦、10艘美軍艦隻、20艘澳洲艦隻及125架戰戰配合下，在昆士蘭省羅克漢普頓對開，進行了多項地面及海面演習，測試兩軍在作戰、維和及人道援助方面的能力。演習由週一直至7月2日。
Australian Corporal Graeme Coulter and US Sergeant Thomas Busse at the airstrip they are building as part of a joint exercise in the Northern Territory.AUSTRALIAN and US soldiers using remote-controlled bulldozers and other sophisticated equipment have carved a 1.3-kilometre airstrip out of the Northern Territory outback in an effort worthy of the Guinness Book of Records.
More than 200 personnel from the two countries — representing six military branches — will complete the strip in scrubland 600 kilometres south-west of Darwin in less than 25 days.
One of the Australian Defence Force's largest cargo planes, the 120-tonne C-17, is scheduled to land on the strip at a former cattle station, now called the Bradshaw Training Facility, on June 29.
"I've never worked on anything as spectacular as this and I have been an engineer in the US Army for 20 years," said Major Pat Stogner, deputy commander of the project. "Back home a job of this size would be contracted out, and I doubt it could be built with such speed."
The strip, made of three layers of fine soil, is being built to provide a forward base as part of a joint US-Australian exercise in northern Queensland and the Northern Territory involving 20,000 US troops, 100 aircraft and a nuclear-powered submarine.
Exercise Talisman Sabre is held every two years, but new facilities built at Bradshaw catering for hundreds of troops are expected to be used regularly by US forces under a US-Australian agreement.
The agreement allows for hundreds of US soldiers, sailors and marines to undergo regular training at bases in northern Australia.
About 100 US military personnel and 110 Australian soldiers arrived at Bradshaw on June 1 in one of the first operations involving so many branches of the two countries' forces.
Stuart Yeaman, the Australian Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of the Joint Rapid Airfield Construction project, said at the weekend that only a highly organised military operation could build a strip capable of withstanding a C-17 in such a short time.
"We have met the challenge," he said as heavy rollers trundled down the strip to pack the soil.
Robert Dees, a 25-year-old US marine who returned from Iraq late last year, said he had been amazed by the size of the project in such an isolated place.
"And there's big crocodiles in the river down the road — awesome," he said.
The US contingent to Bradshaw includes a dozen specialists, among them scientists, who have been testing new ways to build airstrips. These include using remote-controlled bulldozers, which can be operated by a soldier from a distance of up to 300 metres.
The Australian Defence Force took seven years to negotiate a land-use agreement with the indigenous owners of the 8700-square-kilometre Bradshaw station, which guarantees soldiers will protect sacred sites and a conservation area.
The Australian Defence Force will maintain the airstrip when the exercise is over.
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