Australian Defense Force News

AUKUS defense ministers have reaffirmed their resolve to bolster security and stability and ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains a region free from coercion and aggression.A statement was released after Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Australia, and Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Defence, United Kingdom, at the Defense Innovation Unit Headquarters in California on December 1.AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region between Australia…

Australian defense personnel are being deployed to Port Hedland, one of the world’s largest iron ore loading ports, to help contain a coronavirus outbreak on a bulk carrier that last changed crews in the major seafaring city of Manila.Seventeen of the 21 crew from the Patricia Oldendorff carrier have tested positive for the virus, ship owner Oldendorff Carriers said in a statement.Ten of the infected crew members have been moved to hotel quarantine, and seven remain on board as part of a nine-person crew, authorities said.Oldendorff said the crew change on September 5 in Manila complied with all protocols.“All crew members tested negative for the virus before leaving the Philippines…

A coordinated patrol between the Australian Defense Force (ADF) and Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) to improve security along the shared maritime border has concluded this week in Bali, Indonesia. Coordinated maritime patrol AUSINDO CORPAT 2018, the eighth iteration of the exercise, began in Darwin on 16 April following seven days of joint exercises between the two nations’ defence forces. The ADF’s HMAS Broome and TNI’s naval vessels KRI Layang and Kakap covered waters between Australia and Indonesia over nine days, targeting maritime security threats, including illegal fishing, while improving the collection and sharing of information between the two nations.

The Australian government announced a $89 billion (US$66.2 billion) naval shipbuilding plan, based mostly in Adelaide. The program will produce 12 submarines, nine frigates and 12 offshore patrol vessels for the Australian navy as well as 19 Pacific patrol boats to be given to neighboring countries. AFP quoted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying that the largest peacetime naval investment package - first flagged in 2015 to replace its ageing fleets - would boost local industry, with up to 5,000 jobs created in shipbuilding directly and double that in the supply chain. "This is truly nation-building, a great national enterprise and it brings with it that enormous employment boost. It is unashamedly nationalistic," Malcolm said.

Illegal fishing was the focus of a joint operation between Australia and Indonesia that concluded in Bali on April 5. The fifth coordinated maritime security patrol, AUSINDO CORPAT 2016, had elements of the Australian Defense Force unite with the Indonesian Armed Forces in the waters between Australia and Indonesia over the past 10 days to target the exploitation of natural resources, specifically illegal fishing. Commencing in Darwin, the operation included aircraft, ships and headquarters staff from both nations in two synchronized task groups.

Defense force personnel from Australia are in China for Exercise Cooperation Spirit 2014 which begins today. The exercise aims to enhance coordination and cooperation between Australia, China and New Zealand in responding to unforeseen disasters that occur in the Asia-Pacific. This year the exercise is focusing on a maritime search and rescue response involving the Australian Defense Force, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the New Zealand Defense Force. Captain Michael Harris (Royal Australian Navy), Commander of the Australian Contingent, said exercise Cooperation Spirit will enable Australia, China and New Zealand to enhance their ability to work closely together.

The Australian Defense Force said it is monitoring Russian naval vessels that are currently transiting through international waters to the north of Australia. In accordance with international law, Defiance has been monitoring the Russian vessels. Defense regularly undertakes maritime surveillance patrols in the approaches to Australia.  The movement of these vessels is entirely consistent with provisions under international law for military vessels to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters. Russian naval vessels have previously been deployed in conjunction with major international summits, such as the APEC meeting in Singapore in 2009. A warship from Russia’s Pacific Fleet also accompanied former Russian President Medvedev’s visit to San Francisco in 2010.

The maritime wing of the Australian Army purchased and installed a VSTEP simulator classroom for landing craft operations and navigation training at its Townsville base in Queensland. According to VSTEP, the simulator purchase was made following an enquiry from the Australian Defense Force (ADF) and Bohemia Interactive Simulations, a global software company providing simulation training solutions for military and civilian organizations. As a developer of certified maritime simulators…

Design of the next generation of anti-ship missile decoys is set to commence following the signing of two contracts between the Australian Defense Force and BAE Systems Australia Pty Ltd. Defense Materiel Organization Chief Executive Officer Warren King said the contracts represented continued investment in the jointly developed Australian—United States Nulka capability. “These contracts support both the acquisition of Nulka decoys and the engineering design of the next generation of shipboard Nulka launch systems for the Royal Australian Navy,” he said.

The Australian Defense Force (ADF) confirmed that a number of contacts of interest were discovered during the search for lost 1914 submarine AE1 by HMAS Yarra in the Duke of York Islands, Papua New Guinea. The contacts were located during the search for HMAS AE1 conducted between September 6-9. According to the ADF, a number of contacts were able to be classified as natural objects; however, one contact remains unidentified and will require further investigation. ADF will not disclose the exact location of the contact until it is properly identified.

Two Australian Defense Force (ADF) medical officers have joined the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) - Navy hospital ship Peace Ark on its medical assistance mission currently under way in the South Pacific. The deployment results from an invitation from the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Peoples’ Republic of China, General Fan Changlong, during his visit to Australia in July this year. From August 31 to September 11, the ADF medical officers will work closely…

Nuship Canberra, the first of two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships being built for the Australian Defense Force, has sailed on her final contractor sea trials before delivery to the Australian Government. The ship departed Williamstown shipyard on August 12 as planned with the trials taking place in both Port Phillip Bay and off the southern coast of New South Wales before returning to Williamstown around the end of August. Final contractor trials involve testing of the combat and communication systems along with some platform systems trials.

More than 800 Australian Navy, Army and Air Force personnel are on their way home after taking part in RIMPAC, the world’s largest naval exercise, which concluded in Hawaii today. Australia sent the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ship HMAS Success and Submarine HMAS Sheean, a rifle company from 5th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion aircraft to the exercise to conduct military training with defense forces from 21 other Pacific Rim nations.

The Royal Australian Navy reported that its clearance divers have successfully disposed of a suspect object in Betio Lagoon off South Tarawa, in the Republic of Kiribati. Australian Defense previously reported the suspicious item may be a sea mine from World War II. A team of Australian Defense Force personnel was sent to the Pacific island nation following the discovery of the suspect object beneath a sunken vessel that was being salvaged by commercial operators. Six Royal Australian…

A team of Australian Defense Force (ADF) personnel has headed to the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati to dispose of a suspected World War II sea mine. The object was discovered beneath a sunken vessel that is being salvaged by commercial operators in Betio Lagoon, South Tarawa. Six Royal Australian Navy clearance divers and a support team are flying to the island nation on a Royal Australian Air Force C-130J Hercules aircraft. They have deployed at the request of the Kiribati Government following the discovery of the object, which may date back to World War II.

While patrolling in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Darwin provided emergency medical assistance for a heart attack victim on a French fishing vessel. The French Fishing Vessel (FV) Cape Saint Vincent called for assistance late on the night of April 10. The French Joint Headquarters requested Darwin’s assistance through the United Kingdom led Combined Task Force (CTF) 150. Darwin sailed overnight to rendezvous with FV Cape Saint Vincent which was approximately 390 miles off the coast of Tanzania.

The Royal Australian Navy’s Deployable Geospatial Survey Team returned from a six-week Antarctic expedition to collect essential data for navigational charts and scientific research. The team sailed from Hobart in RSV Aurora Australis on December 11, 2013 to conduct a hydrographic survey in the vicinity of Casey Station, a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). “We sailed the Wyatt Earp from Aurora Australis seven times in conditions of extreme cold to collect high quality data…

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) and the Australian Defense Force have commenced a joint review into Australian vessels which entered Indonesian waters contrary to Australian Government policy, during operations conducted in association with Operation Sovereign Borders. The review was announced by Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, and Commander Joint Agency Task Force Lieutenant General Angus Campbell DSC, AM, on Friday, January 17, 2014. The review will be co-chaired by senior officers from the ACBPS and the Australian Defense Force. ACBPS and Defense acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the urgency required as a consequence of the importance of our relationship with Indonesia.

Australian Defense Force (ADF) personnel have completed Exercise IRON MOON 2013, a two week Maritime Counter Terrorism training exercise in the waters off Exmouth and Dampier in North West Australia. The annual exercise involved several hundred personnel from across Defense and Australian federal and state civilian agencies. The exercise is designed to enhance and validate the ADF Maritime Counter Terrorism response capability in the most realistic environment possible. Commodore Peter Lockwood…

The Royal Australian Navy Ships HMAS Sydney, Warramunga, and Sirius, which are based on both the east and west coast of Australia, have concluded their participation in Exercise Blue Raptor in the Northwest Shelf area. Exercise Blue Raptor was a maritime security exercise which tested communications, procedures and protocols between the Navy ships and other units of the Australian Defense Force with the oil and gas installations in the area. The exercise is part of a number of routine patrols conducted by the Navy in the region and was supported by a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN), in conjunction with the U.S. Navy (USN), has successfully located four unexploded bombs dropped by USN Harrier aircraft in the lead up to Exercise Talisman Saber on July 16, 2013. The RAN and USN are now working together to retrieve the ordnance. The Royal Australian Navy minehunter HMAS Gascoyne located all the ordnance on August 16, 2013. The USN and the RAN confirmed the coordinates of the ordnance through survey operations earlier this week and are currently working with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to commence the recovery of the ordnance. RAN Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Ash Power, said the ordnance was found in a challenging underwater environment using HMAS Gascoyne’s variable depth sonar.

The U.S. Navy offered Australia assistance retrieving four bombsthat were mistakenly dropped inside the Great Barrier Reef marine park last week, Reuters reported. Civilian boats were allegedly spotted near their original target causing U.S. Navy Harrier fighter jets to drop the bombs, two inert and two carrying explosives but not armed. Commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet Vice Admiral Scott Swift said the decision on whether to leave the bombs or retrieve them was up to the Australian government. The bombs were lying in 50 to 60 meters of water, posed little risk to the reef or shipping and could easily be picked up by Navy divers, the Navy said. The aircraft were participating in Operation Talisman Saber, a joint exercise sponsored by U.S.

The conventionally powered aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) receives fuel during a replenishment at sea from the Royal Australian Navy auxiliary oiler replenishment ship HMAS Success (AOR 304). The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens (CG 63) and the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) trail astern. Kitty Hawk is currently operating in the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia's Queensland region as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2005. Talisman Sabre is an exercise jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Defense Force Joint Operations Command, and designed to train the U.S. Seventh Fleet commander's staff and Australian Joint Operations staff as a designated Combined Task Force (CTF) headquarters.