US Army drops into Australia for massive war games

TOWNSVILLE, Australia — U.S. paratroopers made the most dramatic entrance possible to Australia during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025. Flying 14.5 hours nonstop from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, they parachuted from the night sky into the Australian countryside on July 14.

“We landed right on the X,” Col. Brian Weightman, commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division, told Defense News during an interview in Townsville.

The commander said he was the first to jump onto the drop zone.

In such a parachute operation, casualties of up to 10% are anticipated, he explained.

“We’re very comfortable with that if we land and 90% of the force is able to continue on,” Weightman said.

Luckily, this nighttime airdrop resulted in only three minor injuries, one of which was caused by a midair parachute entanglement in the dark.

Their 6,800-mile flight was only the beginning of the unit’s simulated joint forcible entry operation. After landing, the paratroopers from the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Regiment – nickname “Three Geronimo” – proceeded to march another 30-plus miles to seize an urban objective located near Townsville in northern Queensland.

Col. Brian Weightman, commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division, is pictured at the Talisman Sabre exercise in Townsville, Australia, in July 2025. (Gordon Arthur/staff)

“To be able to do that with real violence and at speed is really impressive, and I think it should scare adversaries,” the commander said.

Six C-17A Globemaster III aircraft – four from the U.S. Air Force and two from Australia – transported 323 American and a dozen German paratroopers on the intercontinental flight, while French troops joined the sky train upon their arrival Down Under. The C-17s also dropped heavy equipment such as HMMWVs.

Weightman relayed how he enjoyed continuous communications to higher headquarters with voice, data and video from his aircraft. This high bandwidth is a big deal, as it “gives you a lot better situational awareness and a lot better understanding of what’s going on. You’re able to really paint a much better picture of the enemy.”

Furthermore, “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.”

Asked whether nighttime parachute jumps are more challenging, Weightman responded, “For us it’s not much more. You know, we own the night, so once we get on the drop zone, we have an asymmetric advantage against our adversaries.”

Talisman Sabre is meant to showcase interoperability, which is “easy to talk about but hard to do,” according to the colonel.

Nighttime jumps demonstrate “the highest level of proficiency,” he said.

After refitting in Townsville, more than 400 American paratroopers were to join 100 German and 36 French soldiers to perform another nighttime jump on July 21, this time at Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland.

“This airfield seizure and expanded lodgment is very classic – it’s the bread and butter of the airborne infantry,” Weightman noted.

The 11th Airborne Division possesses two of the U.S. Army’s five airborne brigades: the 1st Brigade is a mobile combat brigade equipped with Infantry Squad Vehicles, while 2nd Brigade is airborne. Asked what his division brings, Weightman highlighted two things – the ability to move anywhere in the Indo-Pacific, and the other is its Arctic mission.

“We’re the only brigades in the world that have the ability to conduct offensive operations in the Arctic,” the commander said. The troops can operate in arctic climates or the subtropics of Australia with equal adeptness.

Defense News asked whether there is still a place for airborne units on modern battlefields. After all, Russia’s airmobile operation at Hostomel Airport at the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 ended disastrously.

“I would argue, yes,” Weightman responded. “And as I’m looking from the enemy’s perspective, what we’re able to do would absolutely scare me if I was the enemy of our country.”

The Indo-Pacific region is rife with tensions – China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula – and the 11th Airborne Division is ready to accomplish offensive, defensive, stability or expeditionary operations, said the brigade commander.

Asked about the rising threat from China, Weightman responded, “You know, we’re not training against a specific adversary. What we’re training to do is to be interoperable with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.”

However, he continued, “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.”

The exercise was the eleventh iteration of Talisman Sabre. The drill involved more than 40,000 troops from 19 nations.

Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.

澳大利亚汤斯维尔——在2025年“护身军刀”联合军演期间，美国伞兵以最戏剧性的方式进入澳大利亚。他们从阿拉斯加埃尔门多夫-理查森联合基地不间断飞行14.5小时，于7月14日夜空跳伞降落在澳大利亚乡村。

“我们正好降落在 X 点上，”美国陆军第 11 空降师第 2 步兵旅战斗队（空降）指挥官布莱恩·韦特曼上校在汤斯维尔接受《防务新闻》采访时表示。

指挥官说他是第一个跳上空降区的。

他解释说，在这种跳伞行动中，预计伤亡率会高达 10%。

“如果我们着陆后90%的兵力能够继续前进，我们就非常有信心了，”韦特曼说。

幸运的是，这次夜间空投只造成了三起轻微伤，其中一起伤是由于在黑暗中降落伞在空中缠绕造成的。

他们6800英里的飞行仅仅是该部队模拟联合强行突入行动的开始。着陆后，绰号“三个杰罗尼莫”的第509伞兵团第3营的伞兵们继续行军30多英里，以夺取位于昆士兰北部汤斯维尔附近的一个城市目标。

图为美国陆军第11空降师第2步兵旅战斗队（空降）指挥官布莱恩·韦特曼上校于2025年7月在澳大利亚汤斯维尔参加“护身军刀”演习。（戈登·阿瑟/工作人员摄）

“能够以真正的暴力和速度做到这一点，真是令人印象深刻，我认为这应该会吓到对手，”指挥官说。

六架C-17A“环球霸王III”运输机——四架来自美国空军，两架来自澳大利亚——运送了323名美国伞兵和十几名德国伞兵执行洲际飞行任务，而法国部队抵达澳大利亚后也搭乘了这趟空中列车。C-17运输机还空投了诸如悍马军车之类的重型装备。

韦特曼讲述了他如何利用飞机上的语音、数据和视频与上级指挥部保持持续通信。这种高带宽意义重大，因为它“能让你更好地掌握态势，更清楚地了解正在发生的事情。你能够更清晰地了解敌人的情况。”

此外，“能够将一个具备态势感知能力且经过物理优化的步兵营及其指挥部直接部署到 7000 英里外的空投区，意味着你真的可以去世界上的任何地方。”

当被问及夜间跳伞是否更具挑战性时，韦特曼回答说：“对我们来说，挑战并没有大多少。你知道，我们掌握着夜晚的主动权，所以一旦我们到达跳伞区，我们就拥有了相对于对手的不对称优势。”

据这位上校称，“护身军刀”旨在展示互操作性，而互操作性“说起来容易做起来难”。

他说，夜间跳伞展现了“最高水平的熟练程度”。

在汤斯维尔完成整装后，400 多名美国伞兵将与 100 名德国士兵和 36 名法国士兵一起，于 7 月 21 日在昆士兰中部的肖尔沃特湾进行另一次夜间跳伞。

“这种机场占领和扩大驻扎规模的战术非常经典——这是空降步兵的拿手好戏，”韦特曼指出。

第11空降师拥有美国陆军五个空降旅中的两个：第一旅是装备步兵班组车辆的机动作战旅，第二旅是空降旅。当被问及该师的优势时，韦特曼强调了两点——一是能够在印太地区任何地点机动，二是其北极作战任务。

“我们是世界上唯一有能力在北极地区开展进攻作战的旅级部队，”指挥官说道。这些部队既能在北极气候下作战，也能在澳大利亚亚热带地区作战，而且同样得心应手。

《防务新闻》提出疑问：在现代战场上，空降部队是否还有存在的必要？毕竟，俄罗斯在2022年2月入侵乌克兰之初，在霍斯托梅尔机场的空中机动行动以惨败告终。

“我认为确实如此，”韦特曼回答说。“如果我站在敌人的角度来看，我们所能做到的事情，如果我是国家的敌人，绝对会让我感到恐惧。”

旅长表示，印太地区局势紧张——中国、台湾、朝鲜半岛——第11空降师已做好准备执行进攻、防御、稳定或远征作战任务。

当被问及来自中国的威胁日益加剧时，韦特曼回应道：“你知道，我们并非针对特定对手进行训练。我们训练的目的是为了与我们在印太地区的盟友和伙伴实现互操作性。”

但他接着说：“如果我们能够做到这一点，并且能够大规模地从任何地方向任何地方输送力量，那么我们就应该能够击败任何对手，并保持印太地区的开放。”

这次演习是“护身军刀”演习的第十一次。来自19个国家的4万多名士兵参加了此次演习。

戈登·阿瑟是《防务新闻》的亚洲特派记者。在香港工作20年后，他现居新西兰。他曾到访亚太地区约20个国家，参加过军事演习和防务展览。