Australian soldier killed at ADF airfield
An Australian soldier has been killed and another injured in a parachute training incident at an ADF airfield.
A soldier has died and another injured after a parachuting training incident at an Australian Defence Force airfield.
The Department of Defence confirmed the Australian army member died during a training course at the Jervis Bay Airfield, 200km east of Canberra, on Monday evening.
Another soldier was injured in the incident but did not require hospitalisation.
The identities or ages of the soldiers involved have not been released.
“We request that the privacy of Defence members and families is respected at this time,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday.
The death is the first in a parachuting accident since Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, the son of former federal minister Joel Fitzgibbon, died in March 2024 during a training incident at RAAF Base Richmond, northwest of Sydney.
Cpl Fitzgibbon’s death led to an investigation by the Department of Defence and a two-month halt to parachute training activities.
The last active service member to die in any incident was in October 2025 when a M113 armoured personnel carrier rolled during a training exercise west of Townsville.
Two other service members were hospitalised with relatively minor injuries after the incident but were released.
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Two soldiers were also killed in a truck rollover south of Townsville in August 2021.
The department was charged in September 2023 with breaching federal work health and safety laws over the incident.
-with AAP
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