Exercise Tandem Thrust

The Tandem Thrust Exercises are about to get underway off/in/on the Shoalwater Bay military training area in north Queensland. Over 15000 American personnel and 12000 Australians will be involved. The US have brought the USS Kitty Hawk, USS Blue Ridge, USS Essex, two 688-class subs and the Global Hawk which recently flew to RAAFB Edinburgh, whilst we have provided DDG HMAS Brisbane (last one, decommisioning planned for next year?), 3 FFGs (HMAS Adelaide, Darwin and Canberra), both LPAs (HMAS Kanimbla and Manoora), a Collins SSK (HMAS Waller I believe), and some 40 RAAF aircraft including F/A-18s, F-111s and P-3s. Environmentallists and the Queensland State Government have previously protested the Australian Federal Government’s approval of the use of nuclear powered vessels in the Great Barrier Reef, but no trouble (like in Puerta Rico) is expected. The “Blue” forces, led by the US, will try to capture Shoalwater Bay, whilst the “Orange” forces, led by Australia, will attempt to defend. Each force will not be split along national lines (although I would have liked to see that :)).

MinMiester