REUTERS/David Gray

The exercises involving 33,000 U.S. and Australian troops on board battleships equipped with strike jets, comes as tension over China’s more assertive activity, particularly in the disputed South China Sea, has raised fears of confrontation. WASHINGTON - Talisman Saber is a realistic and challenging exercise that provides opportunities for the United States and Australia to innovatively prepare for regional and global security challenges, Navy Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command, said today. “China will be concerned if it looks like containment, when you have Australia, the United States and others trying to gang-up on China.”

The exercise will go on for a month in Australian territorial waters and will include training in land and air operations.
Australia and the United States begin their month-long biennial joint military exercise, Talisman Saber, this year's being their largest ever, involving 33,000 U.S. and Australian troops on board amphibious assault ships.