THE WATCH STAFF
The skies above Camp Growl, Queensland, roared with the sound of history in mid-July 2021 as the United States Army conducted the first-ever launch of a Patriot surface-to-air missile in Australia, part of an ongoing demonstration of U.S. forces’ ability to rapidly deploy throughout the Indo-Pacific to counter threats and defend assets.
Operating in conjunction with Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, U.S. Soldiers from the 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, destroyed two drones with Patriot missiles, pictured, as part of Talisman Sabre 21, a biennial exercise that involved more than 17,000 participants from seven nations.
“We are trying to demonstrate our ability to quickly move our units around the Indo-Pacific to be able to counter any threat that is out there … [to demonstrate] our ability to move to different locations quickly, set up and establish defense of a particular asset,” U.S. Army Col. Matthew Dalton, commander of the 38th Brigade, told reporters during a conference call from the ADF’s Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, which hosted the exercise, the Stars and Stripes newspaper reported.
The historic Patriot launch “was just tremendous and a real privilege to see in action,” said Maj. Gen. Jake Ellwood, commander of Australia’s Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, according to Australian Security Magazine.
The 38th Brigade sent 65 Soldiers based in Japan to Queensland to operate two Patriot launchers and related support equipment, according to U.S. Army Maj. Joel Sullivan, executive officer for 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment.
The presence of the Patriot missile defense system in Australia signifies the U.S.’s strategic commitment to the region, said U.S. Army Capt. Phillip Le, commander of Alpha Battery. “We successfully demonstrated that we can operate with Australian weapons systems, that we can coordinate communications and engage targets in the sky together,” Le said in an Australian Department of Defence news release.
The U.S. Army also sent a Patriot missile unit to Amami, Japan, to conduct air defense training with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force during the bilateral Orient Shield 21-2 exercise, which ran from early June to early July 2021. Dalton, who oversees air and missile defense units in Guam and Japan, said another Patriot battery would be moved from Okinawa, Japan, to Hawaii for an exercise in August 2021, The Defense Post website reported.
The MIM-104 Patriot missile can travel at five times the speed of sound (6,100 kilometers per hour) and detect and strike targets up to 6 meters long, including aircraft and ballistic and cruise missiles, according to The Defense Post. Conceived of in the early 1960s, the Patriot system first was used in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, defending assets in Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The MIM-104 is the U.S. Army’s primary air and missile defense system.
Talisman Sabre also included air combat and maritime operations, amphibious landings, ground force maneuvers, force preparation activities and urban operations, according to the U.S. Army. Designed to bolster military capabilities to counter a range of Indo-Pacific security concerns, the monthlong exercise also featured forces from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom, as well as observers from France, Germany, India and Indonesia.
IMAGE CREDIT: LANCE CPL. ALYSSA CHULUDA/U.S. MARINE CORPS