Command and control on the move

The heart of MRF-D’s role in Talisman Sabre pulsed within its mobile command operations center (COC) — a rugged convoy of civilian trucks, retrofitted command suite inside a camper van, and tactical vehicles that enabled the MAGTF commander to lead from the front: forward, resilient,connected and undetected.

“Command and control doesn’t have to live in a tent or a building anymore,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Williamson, the MRF-D 25.3 MAGTF executive officer. “We provided that capability as an answer to modern threat conditions — surviving, maneuvering, and leading across the tyranny of distance: blending into our surroundings, and doing more with less.”

Throughout the exercise, MRF-D’s mobile COC practiced signature management or emission control (EMCON), intentionally ceasing digital transmissions and passing command and control authority to stationary Darwin-based nodes during simulated enemy targeting. This was coordinated through the MRF-D MAGTF Fires and Effects Coordination Center (FECC) during live-virtual-constructive (LVC) fires. The ability to dynamically shift control validated both the resiliency and distributed survivability of MRF-D’s command and control model — embodying Force Design 2030 concepts and illustrating contributions to future combined and joint force constructs.

Securing key terrain with the Australian Army

Beginning in Darwin, the MRF-D MAGTF’s Ground Combat Element (GCE) — Echo and Weapons Companies, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, MRF-D 25.3 — launched overland convoys and airborne insertions alongside 5/7 RAR to secure simulated key island terrain inTimber Creek, Cloncurry, and Bootu Creek across the Northern Territory and Queensland , Australia. The seizures, enabled by MV-22B Ospreys assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 363, MRF-D 25.3 MAGTF Air Combat Element (ACE), simulated control of critical access points tied to maritime terrain — areas defined by limited infrastructure, adversary activity, and access challenges.

“In every phase — insert, seize, secure, and relief in place — we worked side-by-side with our ADF partners,” said Maj. Nicholas Foust, the weapons company commander of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, MRF-D 25.3. “It was fast-moving, real-time problem-solving in combined formations.”

These large-scale movements were designed to test the ADF and MRF-D MAGTF’s combined ability to execute forward and rearward passage of lines across a dynamic battlefield. Starting in Darwin, U.S. Marines with the MAGTF GCE seized Timber Creek by air in near concert with precision fires from the U.S. and Australian Army. This movement was followed by the ADF 5/7 RAR’s movement into a secured Timber Creek, NT, from which they could push out to Cloncurry via air, building momentum across the battlespace and denying key terrain to the simulated adversary force. Each movement — from Timber Creek, to Nackaroo, to Cloncurry and Bootu Creek — positioned forces for the inflow and maneuver of follow-on forces. These passages validated combined interoperability in contested environments and ensured the ADF-U.S. force could maneuver and reposition fluidly against a simulated threat.

Combined artillery fires and urban training

Meanwhile among termite mounds and thick brush of the Mount Bundey Field Training Area, Northern Territory, Marines with Kilo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, MRF-D 25.3, showcased the meaning of combined firepower through a full week of M777 155 mm howitzer live-fire training with the Australian Army’s 103 Battery, 8th/12th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. Together, the batteries demonstrated interchangeability through combined gunlines, integrated live-fire defense, and experimentation with live-fire in urban environments — one of the most difficult tactics to employ effectively, yet critical to MAGTF adaptability.

“The danger close training we conducted with 103 Battery inspired trust and confidence between the two units and taught our team valuable lessons about how to continue to push the boundaries of our own training to make it as challenging and realistic as possible,” said Capt. Juliette Brakey, battery commander of Kilo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, MRF-D 25.3. “Mount Bundey pushes our Marines and our systems to their limits, and working through that challenge together ensures we’re ready to fight as one, anywhere we’re needed.”

Historic allied long-range missile strike

Near simultaneous with the insert of combined ADF and U.S. forces into Timber Creek, MRF-D supported the U.S. Army’s first-ever live-fire of an SM-6 missile from the Mid-Range Capability (MRC) or “Typhon,” missile system in Australia, a historic milestone for allied fires coordination. The target — a maritime vessel rigged with an emitter to simulate an adversary’s electronic signature — was struck and sunk with pinpoint accuracy after integrated Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) support from a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon and ground-based collections. The Australian National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) conducted live-fire intercepts against simulated aerial threats, showcasing layered, combined air defense to protect maneuvering ground forces and long-range fires assets like the Typhon.

MRF-D’s mobile COC provided targeting data from its FECC enablers, while Marines with Marine Air Control Group (MACG) 38, MRF-D 25.3, provided airspace deconfliction, forming the connective tissue of the combined joint all domain operation.

Sustaining the fight across the tyranny of distance

For every operation, the MRF-D MAGTF Logistics Combat Element (LCE) served as the circulatory system of the MAGTF body. Without it, the MAGTF would cease to deliver manpower, fires, and capability at the decisive moment. Throughout Talisman Sabre’s execution in the Top End, MRF-D’s LCE — Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 1 — executed a continental sustainment campaign that included: medical role II support in expeditionary configurations alongside the Australian medical capability, water purification and delivery using tactical filtration systems, bulk food service at multiple operating locations, and air delivery of supplies via Tactical Resupply Vehicle (TRV) 150C remote drone and KC-130J Super Hercules’ assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 153. Each arm of the LCE’s support pushed the limits established by previous rotations and validated expeditionary resupply of combined ADF-U.S. forces in austere and simulated threat congested environments.

“This was about proving that logistics wins campaigns,” said 1st Lt. Lizetthe Moreno, a logistics officer with CLB-1, MRF-D 25.3 “We fueled, fed, treated, and moved this MAGTF across thousands of kilometers to enable the MAGTF to apply simulated decisive combat power alongside the Australians.”

Aviation extends operational reach

Over the course of two weeks, MRF-D’s ACE — augmented with support from VMGR-153 KC-130J Super Hercules — logged over 150 flight hours with MV-22B Ospreys, delivering troops, refueling capabilities, and live ordnance. Notably, MRF-D conducted a rearmament flight for ADF High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) munition containers or “pods”, as well as air delivery of F-35 Lightning II ordnance for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Both missions tested the MV-22B ability to transport munitions for interservice and combined forces, highlighting its utility for rearmament and sustainment in a future fight.

“The ACE gave the MAGTF its legs,” said Maj. Hunter Kennedy, the operations officer of Marine VMM-363, MRF-D 25.3. “From resupply to enabling the maneuver across vast distances that simulated maritime terrain, the Osprey's gave us unmatched capability with speed and precision.”

For the first time during an MRF-D deployment, the ACE employed the Tactical Aviation Ground Refueling System (TAGRS) to refuel Australian Army reconnaissance helicopters with the 1st Aviation Regiment. The Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 174 also established Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) nodes across the Australian outback. Together, these systems expanded the operational reach of the ADF-U.S. combined force in the exercise and proved that our sustainment of forces was truly interchangeable.

Cyber domain integration with allies and partners

As Talisman Sabre 25 pressed into the night, MRF-D’s Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) Marines supported a cyber incident response exercise alongside U.S., Australian, and New Zealand cyber teams. Using forensic tools and open-source solutions, the task force responded to a notional intrusion affecting a government research partner — training that mirrored real-world vulnerabilities and command and control friction.

“MRF-D DCO formed a multinational Cyber Task Element with the ADF and the NZDF [New Zealand Defence Force] for the first time in support of an exercise digital forensics and incident response scenario under the direct command and control of a cyber-specific higher headquarters,” said 1st Lt. Jared Haynie, the officer in charge of MRF-D DCO. “Cyber is an ever-present and increasingly impactful domain and exercising how we would work together on different systems is crucial to increasing our capacity to respond when the time comes.”

The Marines behind the MAGTF scenes

None of the above would have been possible without MRF-D’s deep bench of enablers: from MACG-38 and 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) Marines providing aircraft control and deconflicting airspace in remote locations, to communication and cyber Marines ensuring networks and communication pathways remained uninterrupted across thousands of kilometers of terrain, ensuring the MAGT’s mobile and Darwin-based COCs could prosecute the right target, at the right time with combined maneuver, and with the right agency.

From exercise to real-world crisis response

Talisman Sabre 25 provided the MRF-D MAGTF its capstone event and served as a testament to stand-in forces concepts, executed in an austere and logistically complex environment where strategic and operational level concepts played out real time with the ADF-MRF-D team.

As the final maneuvers of Talisman Sabre 25 concluded, the MRF-D MAGTF pivoted from training to real world crisis response — deploying MV-22B Ospreys and Marines from Darwin to the Philippines within days to support foreign disaster relief operations requested by the Philippine government. The same forward posture and combined command and control capabilities refined alongside Australian and U.S. joint forces during Talisman Sabre enabled MRF-D to rapidly deliver aid and mobility across the Indo-Pacific, demonstrating the tangible value of a stand-in force ready to respond at a moment's notice.