ADMM-Plus Countries Ready to Counter Maritime and Terrorism Threats

Director Joint Operations, BG Desmond Tan (seated, 5th from left), with Commander RBAF, MG Tawih (seated, 5th from right) with the heads of delegations of the participating countries.

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) are co-hosting the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Maritime Security (MS) and Counter-Terrorism (CT) Exercise in Brunei and Singapore from 2 to 12 May 2016. The exercise opening ceremony was held at Muara Naval Base in Brunei this morning. Both exercise directors, Director Joint Operations Brigadier-General (BG) Desmond Tan and Joint Force Commander of RBAF BG Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Hamzah bin Haji Sahat, were present at the event officiated by the Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) Yang Dimuliakan Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Major General (MG) Dato Paduka Seri Mohd Tawih bin Abdullah.

Co-organised by Singapore and Australia as the co-chairs of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group on Counter-Terrorism (EWG-CT), and Brunei and New Zealand as the co-chairs of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group on Maritime Security (EWG-MS), the exercise aims to strengthen the capability and interoperability of the ADMM-Plus militaries to more effectively address terrorism and maritime threats as they are put through realistic sea- and land-based scenarios.

As part of the MS phase, all participating countries' naval elements will be involved in shore-based activities from 2 to 4 May in Brunei and sea-based activities from 5 to 8 May en-route to Singapore. Protocols such as the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) will also be practised in this phase. In Singapore, the CT phase will commence with force integration training from 5 to 8 May which will involve professional exchanges, area orientation and task familiarisation. The exercise will conclude in Singapore with combined MS and CT operations. The exercise will involve approximately 3500 personnel, 18 naval vessels, 25 aircraft and 40 Special Forces teams from all 18 ADMM-Plus countries. The strong contributions by the ADMM-Plus members attest to their commitment to enhancing regional peace and stability.

The SAF will be participating with 400 personnel, one Endurance-class Landing Ship Tank (LST), one Formidable-class frigate, one civil resource ship, four Super Puma and two Chinook helicopters, one Heron 1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives (CBRE) and medical assets. BG Tan expressed confidence that the ADMM-Plus MS and CT Exercise will be valuable for the ADMM-Plus militaries. "The SAF hopes to build on the success of the 2013 ADMM-Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Military Medicine (MM) Exercise which we had co-organised to strengthen the momentum of practical cooperation under the ADMM-Plus. The exercise will also foster confidence and strengthen military-to-military relations across all levels," said BG Tan.

The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, together with Permanent Secretary (Defence) Mr Chan Yeng Kit and the other ASEAN Defence Senior Officials' Meeting (ADSOM)-Plus leaders, will visit the exercise site in Brunei tomorrow. During the visit, they will receive a brief from BG Dato Hamzah at the Multinational Coordination Centre (MNCC) at the Muara Naval Base and view a mini-CT demonstration onboard RBN's Darussalam-class patrol vessel KDB Darussalam.

The ADMM-Plus is made up of 18 countries, namely the ten ASEAN countries as well as Australia, China, Japan, India, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.