Singapore and Australia complete joint armed forces exercises

Second Minister for Defence Mr Chan Chun Sing and Australian Assistant Minister for Defence Mr Stuart Robert visited the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) troops participating in Exercise Wallaby 2014 today at the Shoal Water Bay Training Area (SWBTA) in Queensland, Australia.

The delegation included Member of Parliament and Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs member, Dr Lim Wee Kiak.

This year's Exercise Wallaby was conducted from Sep 15 to Nov 8, 2014, and involved more than 5,000 SAF personnel and over 400 SAF platforms, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF)'s System for Hybrid Interceptor Knowledge of Recognised Air (SHIKRA) Radar system, which was participating in the exercise for the first time.

During their visit, Mr Chan and Mr Robert witnessed the bilateral ship-to-shore exercise codenamed Exercise Trident, one of the components of Exercise Wallaby, between the SAF and the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

SAF and ADF troops jointly landing on the beach from the RSN's fast crafts, while performing a ship-to-shore manoeuvre with the RSAF's Apache AH-64s providing cover

Launched from the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN)'s Landing Ships Tank (LST) RSS Persistence at SWBTA, Exercise Trident involves an amphibious landing with the objective of securing the beach front and involves more than 750 SAF personnel and 43 ADF personnel. Mr Chan also interacted with the SAF and ADF personnel who participated in Exercise Trident.

Exercise Wallaby 2014 marks the 24th year of the SAF's training at the SWBTA, and is a testament to the close and long-standing defence relationship between Singapore and Australia.

The SAF and the ADF share a long history of military cooperation, with extensive interactions that include bilateral and multilateral exercises, mutual visits, professional exchanges, and the cross-attendance of personnel at professional courses.

The two armed forces have also worked together in close partnership in the multinational reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. In addition to the SWBTA, the SAF also conducts training in other Australian training areas such as Pearce, Western Australia, Oakey, Queensland and Tamworth, New South Wales.

spanaech@sph.com.sg