US, Australia 'more lethal' from war games

Biennial US-Australia war games convene 25,000 military personnel, 17 warships and six countries.

Interoperability sounds like a buzzword a systems analyst would use.

But for the next few weeks off central Queensland, it means 25,000 military personnel, 17 warships, six countries and millions of dollars of operations.

It means scores of combat jets roaring through the sky over Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton, and submarines under its surface.

And there's a Chinese spy ship watching on from the outskirts.

Interoperability - the ability of military forces to work together - is the name of the game of Exercise Talisman Sabre.

It's the biennial war games between Australia and the United States, now in its eighth edition.

New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are also taking part.

"It's beyond systems," Karl Thomas, Rear Admiral of aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, said.

"It's the way we train so that when we're out there conducting a mission, we now know how the other guy's going to think.

"It just makes us that much more lethal."

The $4.5 billion USS Ronald Reagan is central to the exercise, with fixed winged craft and helicopters to take off 100 times per day.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and US Ambassador to Australia, Arthur B. Culvahouse, toured the 330-metre nuclear-powered carrier on Friday, mingling with its 4500-strong crew as Talisman Sabre began.

It's an "extraordinary symbol not only of American power, but of the United States' commitment to the many nations of this region and their security", Mr Morrison told the crew.

"I would say this aircraft carrier has more power than the defences of most countries," Rear Admiral Thomas said.

On Friday, US forces played the role of enemy by striking at amphibious forces.

Yet the view from the flight deck is far from everything going on.

"We're also including a lot of cyber - that information warfare that's become so prevalent in today's operations," Rear Admiral Thomas said.

"That's an area that we've really emphasised.

"That's the beauty of Talisman Sabre. It's such a large exercise. We're able to stress every warfare area."

The exercise has had its share of mishaps over the years.

It was targeted by anti-war protests in its early years, while three US Marines died after their aircraft crashed in 2017.

In 2013, two bombs were dropped on the Great Barrier Reef during a botched exercise before they were recovered and jettisoned.

This year's talking point is the observing Chinese.

"We're very good at operating around them," Rear Admiral Thomas said.

"But it won't impact what we're trying to get out of the exercise.

"They're paying attention - watching, learning and we're operating.

"We know where they are."

Australian Associated Press