6 October 2022
The Top End has been a hub of military activity during a major multilateral exercise across the Northern Territory involving more than 2400 Australian Army and international troops.
Darwin’s 1st Brigade teamed up with armed forces from Malaysia, Philippines and the United States, for their annual combined arms warfighting activity, Exercise Predators Run 2022.
Launching from the Arafura Sea near the Tiwi Islands, the 1st Brigade conducted littoral manoeuvre operations in small boats over extended distances to form a combined force, ready to take on a fictional enemy at Mount Bundey training area.
Commander 1st Brigade Brigadier Nick Foxall said multilateral exercises formed a key part of Army’s security cooperation program.
“Army rarely operates alone. Whether responding to domestic crises, humanitarian and disaster relief operations or high-intensity conflict, Aussie soldiers can usually be seen working in partnership with other uniforms,” Brigadier Foxall said.
“These partnerships are key to building confidence as well as common strategic understanding and interests in Australia’s increasingly complex backyard – the Indo-Pacific.”
Malaysian and Philippine soldiers integrated into two Australian battle groups, Battle Group Lion and Battle Group Tiger, while United States Marines from Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D) formed a third.
Following their advance to Mount Bundey, the combined force fought to uncover the enemy’s disposition before transitioning to offensive operations.
Headquarters 1st Brigade coordinated a series of dry-fire battle group attacks on an entrenched enemy to complete the first part of the activity. This was followed by a live-fire package, which culminated in a combat team defence supported by armour and artillery.
An M113AS4 armoured personnel carrier drops soldiers from the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, into an attack.
Officer Commanding Battle Group Tiger, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Gilmore, said the austere terrain, high humidity and scorching temperatures challenged everyone.
“The conditions here are tough, but tough conditions often form the tightest teams – soldiers get to know each other a lot better and that’s where you see real friendships manifest,” Lieutenant Colonel Gilmore said.
International friendships quickly translated into solid drills across the combined force as participants became familiar with each other’s cultures, tactics and processes.
“This activity is all about learning to work with, and from, each other,” he said.
“The best thing we have seen is regional partners coming together in order to achieve an effect disproportionate to the sum of our parts.”
That effect was clear when Battle Group Lion’s 1st Armoured Regiment detached a company of M1A1 Abrams tanks to support the marines' deliberate attack, making way for their assault force to clear the enemy objective.
MRF-D Company Commander Major Nikk Davis said the dense foliage and sprawling gums trees provided a training area vastly different to what his Californian unit was accustomed to.
“We did pretty well, especially our infantry who are from 29 Palms, which is all desert – we’re not used to all these trees, so a lot of lessons learnt here that we’ll take back home with us,” Major Davis said.
“You can’t see everything, so you need to move at a different pace and pay attention to your surroundings, especially when tanks are involved – behind a tank it’s cooking at about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (148 degrees Celsius) – an infantryman can get hurt if not careful.”
On the sideline, military observers from participating nations as well as Timor-Leste and Japan, attended the activity with a view to participate in future iterations of Predators Run or other combined training opportunities.
The Australian Army conducts more than 63 exercises bilaterally every year and another two trilaterally (65 total), and has relationships with more than 25 countries, all contributing to an open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific region.
For further imagery visit the Defence Image Gallery.
Members of the United States Marine Corps from MRF-D fire from a pit.
