Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 - proposed TRAs near Charters Towers

Elements of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and partner nation militaries will be conducting TS25 during July 2025.

TS25 is a large-scale military activity, involving a wide range of military air, sea and land activities across the Queensland coast. 2 TRAs are proposed near Charters Towers to safely separate civil aircraft from the military flying activities.

This AvSEF Paper does not exhaustively cover the proposed temporary special use airspace for TS25. Stakeholders should refer to the AvSEF website for consultation material relating to different areas proposed for TS25.

Mt Windsor/Lake Powlathanga

The proposed airspace is a low-level TRA located approximately 16 n mile south-west of Charters towers, in the vicinity of Lake Powlathanga, Lakeview Station and Mt Windsor. The TRA is required to support a large-scale military parachute activity within a six-hour window on the night of the 13 July 2025, extending through the night until the early morning of 14 July 2025. See Figure 1.

In the unlikely event of cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances (like weather), the following day (14 – 15 July 2025) will serve as a spare activation period. Specific timings of airspace activation windows will be confirmed by AIP SUP and NOTAM.

Charters Towers aerodrome (YCHT) may be affected during activation of TRA ‘LAKEVIEW’. If affected, the instrument flight procedures will be promulgated as ‘unavailable’ by NOTAM and AIP SUP. The minimum distance between YCHT and TRA ‘LAKEVIEW’ is in excess of 10 n mile.

During NOTAM activation periods, access by non-exercise aircraft through TRA ‘LAKEVIEW’ will not be available except in cases of a declared emergency, radio failure or participating in activities for the preservation of life and property. Transit procedures will be promulgated via AIP SUP.

The proposed NOTAM will display as follows:

• YBBB/TRA ‘LAKEVIEW’
• Conditional Status: RA2
• Military Flying
• Lateral Limits: 200714S 1453048E – 195452S 1454747E – 201443S 1460520E – 202654S 1454717E – 200714S 1453048E
• Vertical Limits: SFC – 5000 
• Hours of Activity: NOTAM
• Controlling Authority: Department of Defence
• Activity: Paradrop Activity 

Macrossan

The proposed airspace is a low-level TRA around Macrossan, designed to allow high tempo, dynamic rotary wing aircraft staging near the Townsville Field Training Area (TFTA). The expected traffic density consists of multi-nation military rotary wing aircraft of various wake turbulence categories. These aircraft will be conducting non-standard, high-intensity manoeuvres and will be unable to comply with AIP broadcast requirements in Class G. The tempo, complexity and nature of military flying operations require TRA to ensure non-participant aircraft are safely segregated. As such, TRA ‘FENRIR’ is proposed to be activated for the following times:

Specific timings of airspace activation windows will be confirmed by AIP SUP and NOTAM.

The YCHT IFP may be affected by the activation of TRA ‘FENRIR’. If affected, the instrument flight procedures will be promulgated as ‘unavailable’ via NOTAM and AIP SUP. The minimum distance between YCHT and TRA ‘FENRIR’ is in excess of 6 n mile.

During NOTAM activation periods, access by non-exercise aircraft through TRA ‘FENRIR’ will not be available except in cases of a declared emergency, radio failure or participating in activities for the preservation of life and property. Transit procedures will be promulgated via AIP SUP.

The proposed NOTAM will display as follows:

• YBBB/TRA ‘FENRIR’
• Conditional Status: RA2
• Military Flying
• Lateral Limits: 195624S 1463108E then along the clockwise arc of a circle radius 5.00NM centre 200100S 1462900E – 200040S 1462342E then along THE FLINDERS HWY – 195624S 1463108E 
• Vertical Limits: SFC – 4500
• Hours of activity: NOTAM
• Controlling Authority: Defence, contact details to be specified in AIP SUP/NOTAM.

AvSEF members are invited to provide feedback to Defence at adf.airspace@defence.gov.au by 31 January 2025.