More than 1200 members from the Australian Army’s 7th Brigade converged on Central Queensland for Exercise Diamond Sprint at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in May. Diamond Sprint was a combined units training activity and 7th Brigade’s largest formation-level exercise of the year. It culminated in infantry conducting assaults with artillery, tanks, engineers, logistics and communication […]
Defence News
Just turn up and shoot
It was an usual sight in Canberra as a live-fire range arrived on the back of a semi-trailer at Russell Offices. The Video Positive Identification Range (ViPIR) turned up for an evaluation from May 13-24. ViPIR’s Sergeant Robert Brooks, a reservist on loan from Adelaide Universities Regiment and working for Army Land Simulation Program, said […]
Padres head up support
The two chaplains deployed on Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019 (IPE19) may have different religions but their roles were the same: to counsel and provide pastoral care to all on board. Father Paul Stuart, the Senior Chaplain aboard the Royal Australian Navy’s flagship HMAS Canberra, was on the ship as it visited Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, […]
Chinese vessels target RAN pilots
Chinese maritime militia vessels are believed responsible for a series of laser attacks on Australian Navy pilots during a recent voyage through the hotly contested South China Sea. Key points: Defence sources have confirmed helicopters were targeted with lasers during night flights. It comes after Chinese warships closely followed the Australian Task Group Beijing maintains […]
IPE19 returns to Australia
The Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019 (IPE 19) Joint Task Force has returned to Australia following a three-month regional engagement mission to South and South East Asia. The flagship HMAS Canberra will anchor off Darwin tomorrow, having visited seven nations since March 2019 during the third IPE iteration since its inception in 2017. Chief of Joint Operations, […]
New Minister for Defence
Linda Karen Reynolds CSC (born 16 May 1965) is an Australian Liberal Party politician serving as Minister for Defence since 26 May 2019, and has served as Senator for Western Australia since 2014. Military service: Australian Army Reserve, 1984–2012, Brigadier. Commander, 5th Combat Support Battalion Awards: Conspicuous Service Cross, Defence Long Service Medal, Australian Defence […]
Remembering the fallen
Members of HMAS Canberra have attended a small ceremony at the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore to pay their respects to those who died defending Singapore and Malaya during World War II. Among the 4400 Commonwealth casualties buried or commemorated at Kranji are nine Indigenous soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice. “This will stick with […]
Sailor sees Success
Thirty-three years ago, a junior Royal Australian Navy sailor joined a new ship, HMAS Success, and today he is on that ship’s final voyage. The First Lady of the Fleet, Success was commissioned in Sydney on April 23, 1986. She was the largest ship built entirely in Australia for the Navy and the biggest built […]
Take a long ride
Seeing fifty motorbikes roll into town is enough to start a conversation with locals anywhere, which is what the Long Ride 2019 is doing. The rain held off as riders roared off from the Department of Defence Headquarters in Canberra on May 10. They are part of the Australian Defence Force’s contribution to the fundraising […]
Newcastle navigates world’s busiest waters
HMAS Newcastle, in company with the Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019 (IPE19) flagship HMAS Canberra, has made her final transit through the busiest and most complex sea waters in the world: the Malacca and Singapore Straits. The navigation officer on Newcastle, Lieutenant Mitchell Smith, was responsible for getting the ship – which will be decommissioned later this year – safely […]
