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Australian PM to chopper onto U.S. warship ahead of bilateral training exercise

Xinhua, July 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will land on a U.S. Navy warship in a helicopter when it visits Sydney on Friday.

USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the U.S. Navy's seventh fleet, will dock in Sydney Harbor ahead of biennial military training exercises with Australian forces this month.

Before the ship docks, Abbott will be given a personal tour and meet senior U.S. military figures before addressing the visiting American sailors.

U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Daniel Russel, will board the ship in time for celebrations for U.S. Independence Day on Saturday.

USS Blue Ridge will play a key role in the three-week Talisman Saber joint training exercises beginning on Sunday in northern Australia. The exercise will involve up to 30,000 Australian and U. S. defense personnel and focus on the planning and conduct of mid- intensity "high end" warfighting.

This year, the sixth edition, will also include 40 troops from Japan and more than 500 from New Zealand, which the Australian chief of joint operations, Vice Admiral David Johnston, said in May would enable the Australian Defense Force (ADF) to "deepen its engagement with close defense partners in the region".

The exercise will take place simultaneously at two locations: the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, near Rockhampton, Queensland and the Fog Bay/Bradshaw Field Training Area, south west of Darwin in the Northern Territory.

In a statement on its website, the ADF said the purpose of the exercise was not to experiment with new lethal weapons.

"The purpose of the exercise is to develop interoperability between the ADF and U.S. Forces and to redefine defense procedures, not to test weapons," it said. "Experimental weapons in the form of biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear will not be used. Some non-lethal weapons, such as those used in electronic warfare to destruct enemy communication may be used." Endi