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Australian troops have been involved in an incident in Afghanistan that has killed an unknown number of soldiers. Defence has called a snap press conference where Defence Minister John Faulkner will detail the incident.

Around 3800 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed on Operations overseas and in Australia this Christmas, spending the festive season away from family and friends. Defence is also gathering Christmas messages from ADF personnel who will be serving on Operations this Christmas. The majority of Australian Defence Force personnel deployed overseas are working in a number of operational areas, including: Afghanistan as part of the Australian government's commitment to the international coalition against terrorism; Iraq and the Middle East as part of the Australian government's contribution to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq; East Timor as part of a...

AUSTRALIA'S first Victoria Cross winner in almost 40 years has had a private meeting with The Queen. As Australian soldier Mark Donaldson walked calmly out the gates of Windsor Castle yesterday, he looked like any one of a number of the uniformed troops on duty protecting the Queen's official residence. But an observant British local among a small throng outside the gates noticed the distinctive Victoria Cross among other medals pinned to his chest and exclaimed loudly in a Cockney accent, "'e's got-a full deck 'e 'as", and warm applause instantly broke out for the unassuming 30-year-old Digger known to...

KEVIN Rudd is poised to sign off on Australia's biggest military buy -- up to 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the RAAF. The sign off is happening as pressures continue to bear down on defence spending in the face of the global financial crisis. Federal cabinet's national security committee is set to approve the $16 billion F-35 acquisition in late November but the number of aircraft in the RAAF's initial squadron could be cut from 24 to as few as 14. On present planning the air force will get its first operational squadron by 2018 with two F-35s to...

Australia on Wednesday flagged moves to bring military operations in Afghanistan to a quick end, despite US and NATO calls for more troops to shore up the campaign against a resurgent Taliban militia. Defence Minister John Faulkner said Australia was studying how to complete the mission in the "shortest time-frame possible". Australia has about 1,550 troops in Afghanistan with no date set for their withdrawal. "I've certainly asked the Australian Defence Force for any recommendations they have about ensuring we do complete that important role and responsibility both effectively, but in the shortest time-frame possible," he told ABC radio. Faulkner...

SYDNEY — Australia said it has not been asked to send more troops to Afghanistan and does not expect Washington to make any quick decisions on a top-level warning that the war there could be lost without more multinational forces.

AUSTRALIAN female soldiers are already serving on the front line and here is the photograph to prove it. As the debate rages about lifting the ban on women serving in combat roles, small numbers of female soldiers, such as army medic Jacqui de Gelder from Canberra, are already doing the business. She was on her first combat foot patrol in the village of Chora in Afghanistan just two weeks ago. The younger sister of navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder, who lost his foot to a shark attack in Sydney Harbour, spent the previous day treating victims of a suicide...

AUSTRALIA'S last two servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have begun their final journey home. The remains of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver, both lost in 1970, have been placed aboard a RAAF Hercules transport aircraft for the trip from Hanoi, Vietnam, back to Australia. Family members and former comrades of the RAAF's 2 Squadron observed the solemn ceremony at Noi Bai Airfield as their caskets were carried aboard the aircraft. The family members and former servicemen will accompany them on the journey home. Parliamentary secretary Dr Mike Kelly said the aircraft would fly...

AFTER two days of intense preparation in searing 45-degree desert heat, Australia's newest band of brothers went to war under the command of 22-year-old Lieutenant Todd O'Callaghan. The troops from the Townsville-based 1st Battalion's Pioneer Platoon will face the most intense enemy threat of the seven-year campaign just 10 days out from crucial national elections. The Taliban launched four roadside bomb attacks against Diggers from the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force in Oruzgan Province over just 24 hours, wounding two men and damaging two armoured vehicles. The threat from the insidious weapons, known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), has featured...

US troops now a 'coalition of one' in Iraq By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer Saturday, August 1, 2009 The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out. Little attention was paid in Iraq to what effectively ended the so-called coalition of the willing, with the U.S. — as the leader of Multi-National Force, Iraq — letting the withdrawals pass without any public demonstration. The quiet end of the coalition was a departure from its creation, which saw then-U.S. President George W. Bush court countries for...

THE last 12 Australian troops serving with US units in Iraq have finished their mission and are heading home, formally ending Canberra's controversial six-year involvement in the bloody conflict. ..... Under an agreement between Canberra and the Iraqi government all Australian troops except those serving with an embassy-based security detachment had to be withdrawn by July 31. ..... Departing Australian troops were farewelled with flag-lowering ceremonies, with the honour of the last Australian soldier to leave Iraq going to Corporal Don Mander. ..... Defence Minister John Faulkner said the withdrawal of the last Australian troops marked an end to Operation...

AUSTRALIA has officially ended its six-year military presence in Iraq three days ahead of the deadline. Some 20,000 members of the army, navy and air force have served in Iraq since 2003. The honour of being the last Digger to leave the strife-torn country went to Corporal Don Mander. He stepped aboard an RAAF C-130 Hercules transport aircraft at Baghdad International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, the last of 12 Australian personnel embedded within US units operating in Baghdad. They arrived home last night. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia's troops did a "fantastic'' job and Iraq has now achieved "a...

THE remains of the last two Australian servicemen missing from the Vietnam War have been found in the wreckage of their crashed bomber. An RAAF search team, which has been excavating the crash site near the Vietnam border with Laos, found human remains which have been identified as pilot Flying Officer Michael Herbert, 24, from Glenelg, South Australia, and navigator Pilot Officer Robert Carver, 24, from Toowoomba, Queensland. Both died when their Canberra bomber crashed while returning from a mission on November 3, 1970. Defence Personnel Minister Greg Combet said the recovery team found human remains near the crash site....

AN Australian soldier has been killed in Afghanistan by an explosive device. The incident took place during an operation "against a compound of interest" in the Baluchi Valley, Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told a press conference in Canberra this morning. Defence could not release personal details of the dead soldier at this stage, but the family had been contacted, he said. The soldier was on his first deployment to Afghanistan but had previously served in East Timor. Air Chief Marshal Houston described him as a "brave and dedicated" soldier who was "operationally experienced and highly...

MORE than $550 million will be spent during the next 12 months to better protect Australia's 1090 troops fighting in Afghanistan. The money will fund armoured vehicle improvements, protected living containers, more bomb disposal robots and boost spy plane flights targeting Taliban forces. The half-billion dollar taxpayer investment is by far the biggest chunk of a proposed financial "surge'' that will double annual military spending on Operation Slipper to $1.4 billion in 2009-2010. That is a massive $26,923,076 a week, or $3,835,616 for every day of operations. On a per head basis it amounts to $1,288,403 for every Australian soldier...

AUSTRALIA'S oldest man and last remaining World War I digger Jack Ross has died, aged 110. Mr Ross died peacefully in his sleep at the Golden Oaks Nursing Home in the central Victorian city of Bendigo about 4am (AEST) this morning. Mr Ross turned 110 on March 9 this year. As an 18-year-old Mr Ross enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January, 1918 and trained at the wireless training school before he was posted to the 1st Battalion at Broadmeadows camp in Victoria. But the war ended before he could be posted overseas and he was demobilised on Christmas...

AUSTRALIAN special forces have taken part in a targeted assassination of a senior Taliban leader, an operation army commanders claim will disrupt the insurgents' campaign in southern Oruzgan. Mullah Noorullah was killed in a combined operation involving coalition troops and Australian special forces, Defence said yesterday. It did not say when Noorullah was killed but did say the incident occurred in Deh Rafshan district in southern Oruzgan, where the Australian Special Operations Task Group is based. The SOTG tag is commonly used by defence as a synonym to describe elite Special Air Service operatives authorised to hunt and kill Taliban...

White paper orders huge military build-up Patrick Walters, National security editor | April 25, 2009 KEVIN Rudd is set to announce Australia's biggest military build-up since World War II, led by a multi-billion-dollar investment in maritime defence, including 100 new F-35 fighters, a doubling of the submarine fleet, and powerful new surface warships. Kevin Rudd is set to roll out the biggest military build-up since World War II. 04/09 Sky News Views today: 21Sorry, this video is no longer available.The new defence white paper will outline plans for a fundamental shake-up of Australia's defence organisation to ensure that the nation...

AUSTRALIAN special forces and Afghan troops have killed a senior Taliban insurgent leader responsible for improvised explosive device (IED) and suicide attacks against Australian forces. Mullah Abdul Bari was known to have controlled suicide bombers, the training of foreign fighters and distribution of weapons, the Australian Defence Force's chief of joint operations Mark Evans said. Mullah Bari was also identified as a primary IED facilitator and was responsible for the coordination of device emplacement in Oruzgan province. "His weapons of choice were roadside bombs and suicide bombers and his death means that Taliban insurgents operating in the region have lost...

AUSTRALIAN troops have suffered their second fatality in Afghanistan in four days with the death of a soldier killed while trying to defuse a bomb. The 10th Australian to die in Afghanistan, the soldier's loss follows that on Monday of 21-year-old Corporal Mathew Hopkins, who was killed in a firefight with the Taliban in Oruzgan province. The chief of the defence force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said last night the soldier, a bomb disposal expert who is yet to be named, was killed instantly when an improvised explosive device blew up. The bomb was on a pathway being followed...