Australia’s largest-ever military exercise, Talisman Sabre, is underway, involving over 35,000 troops from 19 nations.

Live-fire drills with newly acquired HIMARS launchers were conducted in Queensland.

The biennial U.S.-Australia exercise is also being held in Papua New Guinea for the first time.

Chinese surveillance ships are expected to monitor the drills, as in past years, ABC News has reported.

The exercise began as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese started a visit to China but said the surveillance issue would not be raised with President Xi Jinping.

Written by B.C. Begley