High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems from the U.S., Australia and Singapore are fired at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia, July 14, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

SHOALWATER BAY TRAINING AREA, Australia — Australian soldiers, joined by U.S. Army artillerymen, fired their High Mobility Artillery Rocket System for the first time Monday, marking a significant upgrade to the nation’s long-range strike capabilities.

The HIMARS demonstration on Australia’s eastern coast was one of the first events of the biennial Talisman Sabre exercise, which began Sunday and runs through Aug. 4. This year’s iteration is the largest to date, involving more than 35,000 troops from 19 nations.

U.S. soldiers pose with High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia, July 14, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

The HIMARS live-fire included four Australian launchers and two each from the U.S. and Singapore. Dozens of missiles were fired from a grassy plain as troops and local officials watched from a safe distance.

“It’s the first time the Australian army has live-fired our long-range multidomain platform, the HIMARS,” said Brig. Gen. Nicholas Wilson, commander of the Australian army’s 10th Brigade, who oversaw the demonstration.

Australia received its first two HIMARS in March and plans to field up to 36 launchers, Wilson said. The system extends the army’s strike range to more than 250 miles.

“It gives us both a land and maritime strike capability at long range,” he said.

Members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit fire an M777 howitzer at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia, July 14, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

While no officials at the event who spoke to Stars and Stripes directly identified China as a potential adversary, Australia’s acting defense minister, Pat Conroy, said he expects China to send surveillance ships to observe Talisman Sabre drills, as it has done since 2017, The Australian newspaper reported Sunday.

The HIMARS launch was the highlight of Monday’s live-fire event, which also featured M777 howitzers from the U.S. Marine Corps and the Australian army and South Korean tanks and self-propelled artillery.

F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters flew overhead during the event as AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” played over loudspeakers.

U.S. Army Spc. Isiah Young, a HIMARS launcher driver with the 17th Field Artillery Brigade out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., grinned after the shooting stopped.

“We fired five rippers,” he said, using Army missile-launch slang.

Driving the unit across the Outback training area isn’t very challenging, Young said, though he has spotted a couple of kangaroos hopping near the roads.