Image: Australian MoD
Australia’s Amphibious Force has completed Exercise Wader, putting more than 1,000 soldiers, sailors and aviators through a demanding sea-to-shore combat validation aboard HMAS Canberra and HMAS Choules.
The exercise, conducted last month in the littoral environment, tested the full range of amphibious warfare competencies — maritime manoeuvre, aviation integration, land combat and logistics. It followed Exercise Sea Horizon, a dedicated lead-up planning activity designed to prepare the Australian Amphibious Force (AAF) for Wader’s execution.
Landing craft insertions and air-mobile operations ran simultaneously throughout the exercise, deploying combat and logistic forces with speed and precision. Commanders and planners synchronised all elements to achieve a controlled, coordinated projection of force.
Captain Christopher Doherty, Commander of the Australian Amphibious Task Group, said the AAF gives government decision-makers genuine options. “The AAF provides the Government with a versatile and credible range of options to support our allies, partners and regional neighbours across a range of contingencies,” he said, according to the Australian Department of Defence.
For the soldiers embarked, the tempo was immediate. Corporal Chase Watson, of the 1st Royal Australian Regiment, described the pace of amphibious operations. “Everything happens quite fast. We form up and are guided down to collect our weapons and ammo,” he said. “Then we board the small boats and project from the ship to shore, allowing us to break out and secure the beach.” He added that repetition is central to building amphibious proficiency: “Practice really does make perfect.”
Captain Doherty was direct about the force’s strategic role. “Should the Australian Government direct the ADF to provide assistance or undertake combat operations, the AAF is prepared to project power from the sea and secure key points of entry,” he said. “We are designed for that purpose — to set the conditions for a larger ADF contingent to deploy after our amphibious operation and then conduct the overall mission.”
Australia’s two Canberra-class landing helicopter docks give the ADF a credible sea-based power projection capability across the Indo-Pacific. The region’s vast distances and complex maritime geography place a high premium on forces able to deploy rapidly, operate in contested littoral environments, and sustain combat power without fixed land bases.
Source: Australian MoD