The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) participated in the multinational Exercise Cobra Gold (XCG) 2021. The exercise was co-hosted by the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) and the United States Indo-Pacific Command (US INDOPACOM) and conducted in a hybrid format. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the exercise and the SAF's 22nd year of participation.

COL Lim Teck Keong, Chief of Staff of 9th Singapore Division/Infantry led an SAF delegation to Thailand to assume key exercise appointments as part of the Multinational Force Headquarters, while the majority of the SAF's 38-member contingent participated virtually from Selarang Camp. The exercise focused on combined operations amongst participating nations to address traditional and non-traditional threats, as well as planning and coordination for a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operation. A cyber defence exercise was also conducted where participating nations handled incidents and developed responses to defend an assigned network in various simulated scenarios.

The SAF delegation was fully vaccinated and strictly abided by the COVID-19 Safe Management Measures (SMM) in Singapore and Thailand. Some of the SMM put in place include Rostered Routine Testing (RRT), cohorting by functional groups and mask-on policy. For the SAF delegation in Thailand, movements were limited to the participants' accommodation and exercise areas.

XCG is one of the largest multinational exercises in the region to promote mutual understanding, interoperability and friendship amongst exercise participants. The SAF has been participating in the XCG series since 2000.