Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force C-17s commenced Exercise Talisman Sabre with a combined air assault mission from JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to RAAF Amberly, Australia, last week, officials announced. Roughly 400 Army airborne troops parachuted into Kapyong Airfield in Queensland, dropping “precisely in the five-minute window” during the 22-hour nonstop mission, said airlift control team chief Maj. Kaialii Kahele, overseeing the operation from Hawaii. “This coordination displayed our unity of effort and it demonstrates how we can reach anywhere around PACAF … at any time,” he added. Air Force Special Operations Command airmen and MC-130Hs from the 353rd Special Operations Group at Kadena AB, Japan, are also deployed to Australia’s northern territory for the exercise. Kadena airmen shared forward refueling techniques with their RAAF and Australian Army counterparts, conducted low-level flight operations, and combined special tactics training, according to a release. The US Pacific Command and Australian Defense Force exercise involves? approximately 30,000 personnel and runs July 8 to July 19.
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
