SYDNEY, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Running throughout July, the opening ceremony of the biannual war games between Australia and the United States was held on Sunday evening in the Port of Brisbane onboard the USS Ronald Reagan.
This year's war games will feature forces from Britain, Japan, New Zealand and Canada, with tens of thousands of personnel set to take part in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2019.
While the bilateral exercises are designed to enhance the combat readiness of Australia and the United States' Armed Forces, the training mission was marred by the deaths of three American marines in 2017 when their helicopter crashed in waters off Queensland state.
Hoping there will be no repeat of the tragedy this year, Australia's Minister for Defense Senator Linda Reynolds said, "this premier military engagement reflects the strength of the Australia-U.S. alliance and the closeness of our military to military relationship."
"Exercise Talisman Sabre will involve more than 34,000 personnel from Australia and the United States."
"Forces from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom will be embedded alongside Australian Defense Force personnel, and delegations from India and the Republic of Korea will observe the exercise."
