The United States is getting ready for conflict with China

Darwin: US Army paratroopers stealthily descended from the starry sky, their light-colored parachutes visible in the moonlight, after leaping from six C-17A cargo planes. As soon as the men landed on foreign territory, they started gathering their supplies before marching 50 kilometers to capture their target, an airport.

MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft landed US Marines at a completely other airstrip hundreds of miles away. They dispersed to increase their perimeter as they poured out of the aircraft, making it possible for follow-on planes to land and strengthen their position further into enemy territory.

A fleet of navy and amphibious vessels from the United States, Australia, Japan, and South Korea emerged like ghosts from the shadows further along the coast. Troops, vehicles, and equipment were transported from ship to shore by a flotilla of landing boats and hovercraft, forming a lodgment.

All of these events took place at locations spanning 5,300 km from east to west across Australia as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025. Australia, the United States, and 17 other countries participated in this biannual exercise, which ran from July 13 to July 27, 2025.

Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Tonga, and the United Kingdom were among the countries that returned.

India, Singapore, Thailand, the Netherlands, and Norway were the other five first-timers. In the meanwhile, Vietnam and Malaysia joined as observers while they decided whether or not to take part in two years.

More than 40,000 troops, sailors, marines, and airmen participated in this significant multilateral exercise, making it the biggest to date. The exercise director for Talisman Sabre, Brigadier Damian Hill, told ANI that the war games included 80 sites and training zones.

Thirty ships and more than 150 planes took part. “The mini-Olympics” of military drills, as Hill put it.
But the exercise scenario’s hypothetical antagonist was very intriguing. The illusory People’s Republic of Olvana was the enemy of all these armies.

Readers who have never been to or experienced Olvana before may be excused. After all, it is a fictional nation that shows up in the US Army’s Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE). In training exercises, DATE provides comprehensive background knowledge on the opposing troops.

The People’s Republic of Olvana is a communist country that was established in the middle of the 20th century, according to DATE, which is publicly accessible on the US Army’s website. The population of Olvana is 1.12 million, and Shanghai serves as its capital. The DATE framework puts it this way: “Today, Olvana’s massive economy and modernizing military have enabled it to become a regional hegemon capable of exerting tremendous pressure and influence throughout the region and across the globe.”

The item continued, “Olvana’s military has been undergoing a push to modernize its equipment and transform the way it prepares for and executes military operations.”

“Olvana is a large country located in eastern Asia that borders three major bodies of water: the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea,” said the description. The last straw is an accompanying map of Olvana that depicts it as occupying present-day China! There is no question that this DATE “red force” faithfully mimics China’s location and capability. The “enemy” in this and subsequent Talisman Sabre versions was, in fact, Olvana.

The emphasis of the exercise has shifted to practicing a conventional combat against a peer foe, when before, counter-insurgency warfare was the mainstay of past Talisman Sabres, particularly during the time when Australia, the United States, and its allies were significantly involved in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This shift in emphasis might be explained by the growing power of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), led by Chairman Xi Jinping.

When questioned about the relationship between Talisman Sabre 2025 and China, Hill responded that while deterrence against Beijing and other similar targets “is not a specific objective of the exercise, it’s definitely part of the Defence Strategic Review and the National Defence Strategy that’s been released by the Australian government, that we have a message of deterrence via denial.” The exercise supports the defense mission, which is to protect Australia and its national interests, just as all other defense-related activities do.

“The vast majority of the training is focused on us and how we work together,” the exercise director said. “The real challenge is figuring out how the techniques and procedures work together,” he added. Thus, compatibility is key here.

Additionally instructive is the nature of the activities taking place. In an Asia-Pacific setting, one would anticipate amphibious invasions, airport capture, and battalion-sized parachute drops after transcontinental flights.

Consider the United States Marine Corps. The 2,500-member Marine Rotational Force, Darwin (MRF-D), which is now based in Darwin, northern Australia, used KC-130J Hercules and Ospreys to secure isolated airstrips and set up advance arming and refueling stations across the Outback.

First, around 375 miles south of Darwin, at Timber Creek, MRF-D members took control of an airfield. Nackeroo in the Northern Territory’s Bradshaw Training Area came next. At last, the MRF-D took control of an airport in Queensland called Cloncurry.

By moving soldiers from one isolated island to another, these attempts were intended to resemble the kind of island-hopping operation that characterized the Pacific operation during World War II. Importantly, on July 15, at Bradshaw, a significant incident occurred at the same time as the second seizure. The event was the first time the US land-based Typhon missile system, commonly known as Mid-Range Capability (MRC), was fired outside of the United States.

Somewhere north of Australia, the MRC struck a target in the water with an SM-6 missile that traveled hundreds of kilometers. The US Army’s 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF), headquartered in Hawaii, carried out this operation.

Colonel Wade Germann, Commander of the 3rd MDTF, said, “The deployment of the MRC and successful execution of an SM-6 live fire against a maritime target is another significant step forward in our ability to deploy, integrate, and command and control advanced land-based maritime strike capabilities.”

What, then, made this specific missile fire noteworthy? The missile was launched in the exercise scenario to clear hostile naval vessels’ seas around one of the hypothetical “islands.” Actually, in any conflict with China, the United States and its allies would respond in this manner, seizing and protecting key components of the so-called First Island Chain, including islands in Taiwan, the Philippines, and southern Japan.

The United States may establish protective bubbles around these islands by capturing them and deploying mobile anti-ship missiles, such as the Typhon or the US Marines’ shorter-range NMESIS. In fact, any PLA Navy boats trying to break through the First Island Chain might be targeted by the missiles.

The Typhon may attack ships or land with Tomahawk or SM-6 missiles. For instance, the Typhon can control seas within a 1,000-mile radius when loaded with Tomahawks. The PLA’s attempt to penetrate the Western Pacific would be significantly hampered by a chain of such batteries spread out along the First Island Chain.

As a result, this dismissal was among the most potent warnings against China to emerge from Talisman Sabre 2025. In fact, the PLA would face significant challenges because of the MRC’s adaptability and deployability; for instance, it could be transported into sterile areas using C-17 aircraft.

The USA is undoubtedly worried about China’s aggressive actions and its startling PLA buildup. Therefore, weapons such as the Typhon aid in discouraging Chinese aggression, particularly now that the system has been shown to be deployable to locations as far away as Australia. Additionally, in April 2024, the US Army relocated another MRC battery to the Philippines, where it is still located today. It moved to a different site in the Philippines in January 2025.

Despite its own enormous missile stockpile and its habit of periodically launching them into the South China Sea or close to Taiwan, China would regard the US Army’s failure to fire the MRC in the Philippines to be very provocative.

As an aside, according to a study released in April by the US Congressional Research Service, “China views the placement of MRC batteries in the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific as potentially ‘destabilizing’ and believes that their presence in the area could result in a ‘arms race.’ “In light of these responses, one might claim that MRC units are supporting deterrence efforts in the Indo-Pacific and may do so in other areas as well,” the report said.

Regarding the Australian SM-6 missile shooting, the US Army stated, “The live fire provided valuable insights and lessons learned that will inform the development and employment of future land-based maritime strike and strategic strike capabilities.” According to the statement, this armament system can support “regional security and stability.” Other weapons, such as the 1,700-mile-range long-range Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, might aid in dismantling China’s area-denial, anti-access policy in the South China Sea and surrounding Taiwan in addition to Typhon.

There will be 79 “firsts” in Talisman Sabre 2025, including this first launch of the Typhon west of the International Dateline. Australia’s July 14 live-firing of its recently deployed HIMARS rocket launchers was another first.
Talisman Sabre’s wide geographic reach made training more realistic, Hill told ANI. “While Australia is a large country, it is not nearly as large as the area in which we often dwell. Therefore, we are evaluating our ability to function in the area during times of need by working throughout the broad swaths of Australia. Countries are put to the test by the geography, time, space, and restricted infrastructure, particularly those that may not have the same amount of geography but may still need to do business in the area. It really puts our capacity to work across long distances to the test,” he said.

Even the aerial parachute drop stated earlier serves as a deterrent to China. Six C-17 planes flew from Alaska to drop 323 Americans and a dozen German paratroopers into Australia, Colonel Brian Weightman, commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, told ANI. For example, he said, “To be able to do that with real violence and at speed is really impressive, and I think it should scare adversaries.”

He said, “To be able to directly deliver an infantry battalion with its command that is situationally aware and physically optimized onto a drop zone 7,000 miles away means that you can really go anywhere in the world.”

The US Army has five airborne brigades, including Weightman’s brigade. According to him, his unit has two advantages: it can operate in the Arctic and go anyplace in the Indo-Pacific. “If I were the adversary of our nation, I would be terrified by what we are capable of doing, as I see it from their point of view. And not just to a nation’s coastline, but to any location inside that nation.” He said, “No other capability, or no other formation, gives us that ability.”

Weightman said, “You know, we’re not training against a specific adversary,” when asked explicitly about the danger posed by China. Interoperability with our Indo-Pacific friends and allies is what we’re training for.” But he said, “If we’re able to do that and mass power from anywhere to anywhere at scale, then we should be able to beat any adversary and keep the Indo-Pacific region open.”

Another instance of deterrence and interoperability was the joint operation of aircraft by the United States and the United Kingdom in the Timor Sea, which is located north of Australia. Although there hasn’t been any news of one yet, China has consistently sent a spy ship to Australia in previous years to keep an eye on these war games.
With thousands of military people, many moving pieces, and strong forces working together, Exercise Talisman Sabre delivers a strong deterrent message to evil actors like China and Olvana.