Australia has launched its largest-ever military exercise, Talisman Sabre, bringing together armed forces from the US, Australia, and other allies for live-fire drills that span large stretches. On July 14, Australia fired missiles from newly acquired, US-made HIMARS systems at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, signaling a growing strategic partnership between the two nations.
Initiated in 2005, Talisman Sabre is a biennial joint exercise that has expanded in both scale and geography. This year, for the first time, operations will also be conducted in Papua New Guinea, marking a shift in Australia’s regional defense posture and highlighting the Indo-Pacific’s growing significance in global military affairs.
With tensions simmering in the region, the drills are expected to draw surveillance from Chinese ships, as they have during the last four iterations. “We anticipate Chinese monitoring again this year,” said Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy. US and Australian officials attended the opening ceremony in Sydney on July 13, reinforcing the exercise’s symbolic weight in today’s geopolitical climate.
In fact, these drills reflect a broader evolution in warfare itself. Gaining tactical and strategic advantages has driven armed forces since antiquity—but as modern threats grow more complex, so do the responses. Click through and learn more about the deadly evolution of military tactics.