KOOLENDONG 22 Forces
- Interoperability and Lethality
by U.S. Marine Corps Author August
17,
2022
Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D)
conducted Exercise KOOLENDONG 22, a complex training event to
enhance combined and joint interoperability alongside elements of
the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and the Australian Defence Force
(ADF) from July 10 – August 2.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Christopher H. Peach, a squad leader with 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Ground Combat Element, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) 22, orders Marines to move forward on an objective during exercise Koolendong 22 in Yampi Sound, WA, Australia, July 21, 2022. Exercise Koolendong 22 enhances MRF-D and the Australian Defence Force’s ability to conduct combined and joint operations, demonstrating the shared commitment to being ready to respond to a crisis or contingency in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Cameron Hermanet)
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KOOLENDONG historically
served as the culminating exercise for MRF-D and highlighted
large-scale, combined arms capabilities of the Marine Air Ground
Task Force (MAGTF) along with allied and joint forces. This year’s
exercise was similar as KOOLENDONG 22 featured a combined and joint
force of MRF-D Marines and Sailors, U.S. Soldiers and Airmen, and
soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the ADF. Instead of featuring
large-scale combined arms live-fire, however, MRF-D 22 shifted
KOOLENDONG’s focus to expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO)
and challenged the team to command and control the force across
massive distances, multiple locations, and difficult terrain.
“We will have U.S. Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen
alongside ADF soldiers and personnel conducting live and
non-live-fire, and command and control, in Darwin, Mount Bundey,
Broome, Curtin, and Yampi, across hundreds of miles of air, land,
and sea lines of communication,” said Colonel Chris Steele, the
MAGTF commander when providing his initial commander’s intent for
the exercise. “In my mind we always need to be ready to fight
alongside our Australian allies and our joint partners, and
KOOLENDONG 22 provided us the opportunity to practice just that.”
With support from the ADF and other assets, MRF-D transported
hundreds of personnel and equipment pieces from the Northern
Territory to Western Australia, encompassing a distance of over
1,000 kilometers (650 miles). MRF-D utilized various air, land, and
sea methods to conduct logistics throughout the exercise, including
a U.S. Army logistics support vessel (LSV) from the 8th Theater
Sustainment Command, and Royal Australian Air Force C-17
Globemasters. The distance and terrain forced MRF-D to be creative,
flexible, and detailed in the overall logistics plan, which
replicated a plan applicable to potential future operations across
the Indo-Pacific.
Australian Army soldiers with 16th Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment, and U.S. Marines with Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) 22, coordinate a foot movement to an objective during exercise Koolendong
22 in Yampi Sound, WA, Australia, July 21, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Cameron Hermanet)
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“This annual exercise allows the ADF to
rehearse with the US Marines in a combined arms littoral combat
scenario,” said Colonel Marcus Constable, the commander of
Headquarters, Northern Command. “KOOLENDONG strengthens the
US-Australian relationship, advances and validates USMC-ADF
interoperability and demonstrates preparedness to respond to a
regional crisis.”
Following the complex logistics effort, the
exercise force completed a wide variety of training events to
further replicate potential crisis response operations in support of
our regional allies and partners. KOOLENDONG 22 was a full MAGTF
effort, led by the command element which controlled the exercise
force and maintained real-world awareness of regional events and
operations. While two rifle companies from the ground combat element
conducted company attacks and patrolling, another company executed
an air assault across the entire distance from Darwin to Curtin in
Western Australia. Simultaneously, the logistics combat element
conducted movements and resupplies in both training locations,
utilizing the combat logistics company construct and Role II medical
capability. The aviation combat element supported multiple air
assaults along with simulated air defense operations and battlespace
awareness repetitions utilizing modern aviation radar capabilities.
Once the MRF-D rifle company seized key terrain in Western
Australia, the exercise focus shifted to long-range fire support.
Taking advantage of the massive Yampi Sound training area in Western
Australia, MRF-D and combined fire support experts conducted
strategic targeting alongside strategic United States Air Force
assets and Australian jets. U.S. B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers from the
509th Bomb Wing and Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs
flew combined bombing missions in support of KOOLENDONG 22.
"The fire support coordination exercise at Yampi Sound was a
tremendous and unique opportunity to integrate joint and combined
forces in order to set conditions in an expeditionary environment,"
explained Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company officer-in-charge
Lieutenant Jenn Rapach. "Coordinating with both U.S. and Australian
Air Force assets alongside Marine Corps and Australian controllers
was a rewarding experience and is incredibly important to any future
operation in the Indo-Pacific."
Alongside the MAGTF, an air
assault company from partnered 1st Brigade seized key terrain in
Mount Bundey, executing a MV-22 Osprey insert followed by
force-on-force evolution against elements from the Australian 13th
Brigade. Pairing Australian ground combat forces with American
aviation combat forces was one of many ways the bilateral team
conducted interoperability training.
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Anthony T. Graham, a
platoon sergeant with 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment,
Ground Combat Element, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin
(MRF-D) 22, braces while an MV-22 Osprey takes off during an
air assault during exercise Koolendong 22 in Yampi Sound,
WA, Australia, July 21, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps
photo by Cpl. Cameron Hermanet)
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“Working with MRF-D has
been an excited experience for the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian
Regiment (5RAR). 5RAR is normally a motorised infantry battalion,
but we are undergoing a focus to littoral manoeuvre, and rapidly re-roled
as an air assault element for Exercise KOOLENDONG,” said Captain
Jacob Bronk, the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment air
assault company commander. “The diggers of 5RAR practiced dismount
tactics, techniques, and procedures operating as part of the MAGTF,
and the lessons learned from our participation will help ensure that
the USMC and the ADF remain ready to operate together in the
future.”
KOOLENDONG 22 closed with the introduction of a
follow-on force in the form of one reinforced rifle company out of
the 1st Marine Division. Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine
Regiment supported the final phase of the exercise as part of their
battalion’s “Readiness Exercise”. This effort involved elements of
V35 conducting live and non-live fire maneuver at Range 800 in Camp
Pendleton, Fort Hunter Liggett in Northern California, and right
here in Australia. With less than 72 hours of notice, Marines and
Sailors from V35 departed Southern California and arrived in the
Northern Territory to simulate reinforcements to a crisis response
operation. Following reception, staging, onward movement, and
integration conducted by MRF-D, the V35 company executed a
force-on-force movement to contact and live-fire platoon attacks at
Mount Bundey.
"I am extremely proud of the entire battalion
for their effort and commitment to this exercise. We wanted to prove
we can deploy multiple company task forces on short notice to
rapidly seize key terrain, and we did just that,” said Lieutenant
Colonel Jerome Greco, the commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 5th
Marines. “Spread across thousands of miles in three different
locations, our Marines and Sailors, the MRF-D team and our gracious
Australian hosts did what professionals do. They fought through
friction, solved problems and accomplished the mission. It was a
pleasure to train in Australia alongside MRF-D, to take advantage of
the excellent training areas and the ADF's hospitality, and I am
especially happy our Marines got to experience such a unique
training event."
In total, Exercise KOOLENDONG 22 took
emerging Marine Corps components of EABO and put them into realistic
practice. Combined air assaults to seize key terrain and process
follow-on forces, long-range joint fire support coordination,
long-range air and sea logistics, and in-depth communication
pathways across challenging terrain are all key components of future
EABO MRF-D 22 executing during the exercise.
“You have to be
able to monitor [maritime choke points], to engage an adversary who
wants to close it down,” said General David Berger, the 38th
Commandant of the Marine Corps during a round table event in
Canberra, Australia earlier during the rotation. “We need things
like anti-ship capabilities, the surveillance, the collection
capabilities in the maritime domain. We need the ability to move
laterally, both by air and on the surface at a tactical level, with
greater frequency and in smaller numbers.”
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