Defence minister visits SAF troops at military exercise in Australia

SINGAPORE: For the first time, a new bilateral component codenamed Exercise Trident has been introduced at Exercise Wallaby, currently ongoing at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) in Queensland, Australia.

Singapore's Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen and Australia's Assistant Minister for Defence Stuart Robert visited Singapore Armed Forces troops participating in the exercise on Tuesday.

The delegation included Member of Parliament and the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs Alex Yam.

This year's Exercise Wallaby is conducted from 3 Oct to 30 November 2013.



It involves more than 5,000 SAF personnel and over 300 SAF combat systems, including the Heron 1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the Light Strike Vehicle Mark II (LSV MK. II) which is participating in the exercise for the first time.

Dr Ng and Mr Robert also witnessed the capabilities of the newly-acquired Light Strike Vehicle Mark II (LSV MK. II) as part of an integrated live-firing demonstration.

The Light Strike Vehicle Mark II replaces the ageing fleet of LSVs and is produced by Singapore Technologies Kinetics.

Dr Ng and Mr Robert also visited the Republic of Singapore Navy's Landing Ship Tank RSS Resolution, which was participating in the inaugural Exercise Trident.

Exercise Trident is a Ship-to-Shore exercise under a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief scenario, involving more than 900 personnel from the SAF and 14 personnel from the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Exercise Wallaby 2013 marks the 23rd year of the SAF's training at the SWBTA.

MINDEF says the exercise is a testament to the close and longstanding 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.