Army Combat Team leads from the front at Exercise Diamond Strike

Few exercises conjure up a better example of interoperability.

Whether it’s New Zealand and Australian infantry conducting a joint-assault as part of a combined force, armoured Bushmaster vehicles from both countries working side-by-side in urban settings, or our combat engineers (sappers) milling timber to construct a bridge in rapid time alongside their counterparts from the Australian Army’s 2^nd Combat Engineer Regiment.

Exercise Diamond Strike covers it all.

“The first 48 hours of Exercise Diamond Strike has taught us a lot of lessons already,” says Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles (QAMR) Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Caleb Berry, who is also the NZ Army’s Senior National Officer for the Exercise.

“Interoperability with our partners doesn’t just happen, it is developed by continuing to test ourselves and work together on exercises like this. So far, the Kiwi Combat Team have really impressed, held their own and achieved a lot as part of the combined ‘Battle Group Ram’.”

The NZ Army Combat Team – Combat Team Wolfpack – is attached to the 8^th/9^th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (8/9 RAR) for the exercise, operating as a collective Battle Group unit containing elements across infantry, armour, artillery, engineers, signals and logistics.

The Kiwi contingent has been leading the advance of Battle Group Ram as it conducted various exercises, including an assault onto the Urban Operations Training Facility at Raspberry Creek in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland.

During this assault, light armoured vehicles (NZLAV) projected forward our infantry, before providing covering fire alongside other elements, to enable the dismounted soldiers to enter and clear buildings of enemy forces. Concurrently, NZLAV and Bushmasters infiltrated around the objective to block any enemy reinforcements.  

“The first phase of Battle Group Ram’s exercise saw an advance and clearance of the Urban Operations Training Facility. Our soldiers and Combat Team were instrumental in the clearance, destroying several enemy delay forces. They then isolated the objective by cutting off and blocking withdrawal routes to the North and West, as the remainder of the Battle Group’s forces attacked from the south, clearing buildings of any enemy. The troops learned valuable lessons about the use of terrain, speed and aggression,” Lieutenant Colonel Berry said.

Elsewhere in the training area, combat engineers from the NZ Army’s 2^nd Engineer Regiment worked alongside their Australian counterparts to navigate challenging and complex close-country environments.

One of their priority activities so far has been to rapidly construct a timber bridge, using materials milled and constructed entirely on site.

These are key activities for both armies as they build up to Exercise Talisman Sabre next month, where more than 30,000 personnel from 19 different nations will come together for one of the largest exercises of its kind.  

As preparation, Exercise Diamond Strike allows both New Zealand and Australian soldiers to fine-tune their interoperability and gain valuable exposure to how both forces operate both independently and when joined at the hip.

“This attack was the first major activity involving our Combat Team operating as part of Battle Group Ram alongside 8/9 RAR. This is already a truly multi-national exercise, with troops from the British Army’s Gurkhas, Fijian Infantry and Tongan marines rounding out the Anzac force,” Lieutenant Colonel Berry said.

“Exercise Diamond Strike is set to run for at least another week, and as you would expect, not everything will always go to plan. Units, leaders and soldiers will make mistakes, but that is why we train hard and do so in as realistic a setting as possible - to enable those lessons to be learned now, in a safe environment, rather than on operations where the stakes are far higher. To enable this, the Australians facilitate a robust system of observation and feedback, as well as reviews at the end of the exercise that capture these lessons. The Kiwis involved are really seeing the value of working alongside our Anzac ally.”

After Exercise Diamond Strike the combat team is due to conduct a refit to fight prior to Exercise Talisman Sabre getting underway in mid-July.