Quicksilver response

Special forces in action during Mercury 04.

Australia's largest and most ambitious counter-terrorism exercise, Mercury 04, has tested more than 3000 members of Australia’s national security agencies.

An AP-3C aircraft and its crew were involved in the first of fi ve counter-terrorism exercises planned for this year.

The ADF, police, emergency services and government agencies took part in Mercury 04, held from March 21-25 in Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, the Northern Territory and the ACT.

The exercise presented a range of complex terrorism scenarios.

These included mock attacks by terrorists on an offshore oil and gas facility, bomb blasts, a high-profi le kidnapping and siege.

Mercury 04 was designed to exercise Australian Federal, State and Territorial government agencies’ ability to prevent, respond and recover from terrorist threats and acts of terrorism simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions.

The exercise focused on testing the operational responses to major terrorist incidents as well as the critical decision- making processes set up to deal with these events.

ADF assets included Tactical Assault Groups, the Incident Response Regiment, 5 Aviation Regiment, HMAS Kanimbla and the AP-3C.

The Special Operations Command coordinated the ADF assets, while defence command and control arrangements were also exercised.

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