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DARWIN, Australia — U.S. Marines with Marine Rotational Force–Darwin 26 executed a large ship-to-shore movement Saturday, disembarking from the Royal Australian Navy flagship HMAS Canberra after a combined maritime transit from Townsville.
The voyage underscored growing bilateral interoperability as Marines and Australian sailors lived, planned, and operated together aboard the 27,500-tonne landing helicopter dock. Throughout the transit, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 (Reinforced) completed deck landing qualifications, repeatedly launching and recovering MV-22B Osprey aircraft on Canberra’s flight deck to align procedures and demonstrate the ability to deploy combat power directly from an allied vessel.
“Integrating with the Royal Australian Navy aboard HMAS Canberra represents a significant step forward in our combined warfighting capability,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. George Flynn, commanding officer of MRF-D 26. “By merging the inherent littoral capabilities of a certified Marine Corps MAGTF with the amphibious power of the RAN, we are actively sharpening our collective readiness to fight and win. This training ensures that our combined forces remain a highly capable, lethal, and responsive deterrent in the Indo-Pacific.”
The operation showcased the partners’ capacity to align logistics, command-and-control, and combat platforms across domains. From Canberra’s flooded well dock, Australian mechanized landing craft delivered heavy equipment ashore, moving Marine Corps joint light tactical vehicles and medium tactical vehicle replacements and affirming the ability of Australian ships to put U.S. ground forces onto the beach.
“Australia’s alliance with the United States is our most important defense relationship, underpinned by deep levels of cooperation through training, exercises and operations,” said Royal Australian Navy Capt. David McPherson, commanding officer of HMAS Canberra. “By operating together, we strengthen our ability to respond. This exercise demonstrates the high level of trust and interoperability between our two nations.”
The successful debarkation sets up further combined training across the Northern Territory and demonstrates that the two forces can project substantial combat capability from an allied flagship, keeping them ready to respond rapidly to contingencies in the region.
