India set to join Australia's biggest military exercise for first time

Dubbed as the 'Olympics of military exercises', Talisman Sabre is the most important military exercise that the Australian Defence Force engages in every second year

India is set to join Australia, Japan and the United States for the first time in the multilateral ‘Talisman Sabre 2025’ military drill.

 

The 2025 edition marks the eleventh iteration of Talisman Sabre, a military exercise jointly developed by Australia and the United States. In 2023, over 30,000 personnel from 13 countries took part in operations conducted throughout Australia.

 

What is Talisman Sabre? 

Dubbed the ‘Olympics of military exercises’, Talisman Sabre provides armed forces to carry out complex operations across land, air, sea, cyber, and space domains. Talisman Sabre is the most important military exercise that the Australian Defence Force engages in every second year. The war games will be partly held in Papua New Guinea in July, marking a departure from previous years.

 

Australia had extended invitations to India to take part in the exercise following the agreement to deepen military ties after the first ‘India-Australia 2+2 dialogue’ between their foreign and defence ministers in September, 2021.

 

Notably, Japan will also send troops for joint training with US marines and Australian forces. This comes amid concerns over a series of recent encounters involving China’s assertive military. Australia will also join ‘Exercise Orient Shield’ in Japan for the first time next year.  In recent years, Australia has been negotiating with neighbouring countries such as Papua New Guinea for defence treaties amid increasing Chinese aggression in the region. 

  Also read: Day after military exercise, China conducts live-fire drills near Taiwan

 

‘AustraHind’ military exercise

 

India and Australia had last conducted a military exercise, called ‘AustraHind’, at the Foreign Training Node in Pune in November last year. The two-week training aims to strengthen collaboration and interoperability between the two nations’ armed forces. Personnel from both countries participated in a range of activities, including physical training, martial arts, joint tactical planning, and specialised weapons skills.   

Also read: India-Kyrgyzstan joint military exercise Khanjar-XII begins in Tokmok

  India-US military exercises

 

The special forces of India and the US also participated in the 15th edition of ‘Exercise Vajra Prahar’ last year in a bid to ‘develop interoperability’. This was the second exercise of the year between Indian Army and the US Army, the previous being ‘Exercise Yudh Abhyas’ which was conducted in Rajasthan in September. Indian and US troops had completed a joint training exercise this year at the Duvvada Firing Range in Visakhapatnam as part of ‘Exercise Tiger Triumph 2025’.