In a landmark step towards a fully integrated digital defence alliance, cyber units from Australia, New Zealand and the United States have, for the first time, jointly conducted a live-fire cyber warfare exercise during this year’s Talisman Sabre war games, signalling a new phase in allied military collaboration.

Talisman Sabre, held at secure facilities in Queensland and the Northern Territory, was not merely an academic drill or a test of firewalls—it was a coordinated simulation designed to assess and harden allied resilience across critical infrastructure sectors such as power grids, ports, and satellite communication systems. It marked the first occasion in which forces from all three nations worked in concert within a cyber context under real-time operational conditions, using largely commercial technologies.

The initiative was born of necessity. With state-sponsored cyberattacks on the rise and strategic infrastructure increasingly digitised and vulnerable, defence planners across the Indo-Pacific have acknowledged that conventional military might is no longer sufficient. Modern warfare, they say, will be won as much in server rooms and control centres as on land, sea or air.

Forging a Digital Shield

Brigadier Lucas Forrester, commander of Australia’s Cyber Operations Group, said the exercise represented a “quantum leap” in regional cyber cooperation. “This is not just about repelling hypothetical attacks,” he said. “We’re building the frameworks now that will allow our forces to respond together—decisively, legally, and in lockstep—when critical infrastructure is targeted.”

The drill centred on a simulated ‘grey-zone’ conflict scenario involving mass disruption to energy distribution and telecommunications in a fictional Pacific state. Australian, Kiwi and U.S. cyber teams were tasked with identifying, neutralising and reversing hostile code inserted into civilian industrial control systems, while maintaining close coordination with local authorities and allied field commanders.

Each team brought unique capabilities to the table. The U.S. Marine Corps, whose cyber wing has evolved rapidly over the past decade, led the red-teaming operations—simulating the tactics, techniques and procedures of known adversaries such as China’s PLA Unit 61398 and Russia’s GRU. New Zealand’s Defence Cyber Security Centre contributed threat detection protocols used in protection of undersea cables and government cloud systems, while Australia deployed integrated tools developed by the Australian Signals Directorate in collaboration with private industry.

“This was about more than interop[erability],” said Lt Col Rachel Mahoney, a senior cyber liaison with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. “We’re talking about shared doctrine, shared infrastructure, shared alert thresholds. You cannot defend against hostile software by committee. It has to be unified.”

War Games for the Digital Age

Talisman Sabre has, since its inception, been known as a showcase of conventional joint power projection—featuring amphibious landings, naval manoeuvres, and live-fire drills. Yet this year’s edition, the largest in the exercise’s 20-year history, quietly signalled a paradigm shift.

For the first time, cyber drills were not held off-site or delayed until after kinetic operations concluded. Instead, they were threaded through every major phase of the wargame. During a simulated naval blockade, cyber units were tasked with defending satellite relays controlling drone swarms. In another scenario, allied networks suffered simulated ransomware attacks requiring joint decryption and forensic response.

Commercial software tools, some developed by multinational cybersecurity firms, were deliberately used in many of the simulations. The rationale, according to planners, was to ensure that defensive protocols could extend beyond classified military domains into the broader public and private sectors—a recognition that most modern infrastructure is commercially operated, not government-owned.

“The battlefield is no longer a closed circuit,” said Dr Erin Lyall, a cyber policy analyst formerly with Australia’s Department of Home Affairs. “This was a message to adversaries that Australia and its allies now regard attacks on civilian digital infrastructure as acts of war—and we’re preparing accordingly.”

Regional Implications

While officials have declined to identify specific threats that prompted the enhanced cyber coordination, the implications for Indo-Pacific security are unmistakable. In recent years, both China and North Korea have been accused of targeting Australian and New Zealand networks, including electoral systems, health records, and water supply controls.

Analysts believe the exercise is a clear signal that the ANZUS alliance is adapting to the cyber age—not only in rhetoric, but in practice. With the Five Eyes intelligence network already offering a foundation of digital trust, Talisman Sabre 2025 may mark the moment where defence integration caught up with intelligence collaboration.

Notably absent from the cyber phase of the exercise were the UK and Canada, the other Five Eyes members. Officials suggested their involvement may come in future iterations, particularly as cyber elements become standard in joint operations.

For now, the trilateral drill has already yielded actionable results. Several vulnerabilities in legacy Australian power grid software were reportedly uncovered and patched during the simulation. Likewise, a new inter-agency alert framework, modelled on U.S. Cyber Command’s warning system, is being trialled across key Australian ministries.

Looking Ahead

As the curtain falls on Talisman Sabre 2025, military leaders are already planning to expand the cyber dimension for the next round in 2027. Among proposals on the table are the inclusion of real-time simulated attacks on smart city infrastructure and joint drills with private sector utility providers.

“We’re not just planning for tomorrow’s war,” said Brigadier Forrester. “We’re building the habits of cooperation that will prevent one.”

In an era where digital lines of attack are no longer the shadowy preserve of lone hackers but a routine part of statecraft, such habits may be the difference between a blacked-out city and a resilient nation.