Senior Minister of State for Defence Visits Exercise Wallaby and Reaffirms Close and Long-Standing Defence Ties with Australia

Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman visited the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) troops participating in Exercise Wallaby 2016 at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) in Queensland, Australia, from 28 to 29 September 2016. This year's exercise is conducted from 15 September to 7 November 2016, and involves more than 4600 SAF personnel and over 300 SAF platforms. The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF)’s F-15SG fighter aircraft participated in the exercise for the first time.

During his visit, Dr Maliki visited the exercise command post where he received a brief on an air-land integrated strike mission, and interacted with Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) from the 54th Singapore Armoured Brigade and the RSAF who participated in the exercise. He also boarded the AH-64D Apache and Super Puma helicopters for familiarisation flights over the SWBTA. 

Speaking during his visit, Dr Maliki emphasised the importance of overseas training in providing realistic and challenging training opportunities for the SAF to hone its operational readiness. He said, "In order for the SAF to be an integrated fighting force to be able to protect Singapore and Singaporeans, we need to have training areas that allow us to ensure that the different services are able to connect together and test their capabilities. As you know, Singapore is small and we do not have large training areas and we appreciate what we have in Australia… (The Shoalwater Bay Training Area at) 2,700 km2 is essentially four times the size of Singapore, and you can just imagine the sheer (number of) opportunities that it creates for our servicemen to learn more about their own capabilities, to hone their skills and to be integrated and we must make sure that the Services are able to integrate their capabilities." He also expressed appreciation for Australia’s strong support for the SAF’s training at the SWBTA over the past 26 years, "I would also like to express my thanks to the Australian Government, the Australian Department of Defence and the local government in Rockhampton and Livingstone Shire for their continued support to Singapore and the SAF. This is the 26th year that the SAF has been given the opportunity to continue to train here, and certainly we appreciate all the support that has been given. The bilateral relations, especially the defence relations, between Singapore and Australia has been very strong and we are committed to continue to strengthen that relationship."

Exercise Wallaby 2016 marks the 26th 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 Australian Defence Force (ADF) share a long history of military cooperation, with extensive interactions that include bilateral and multilateral exercises, mutual visits, professional exchanges, the cross-attendance of personnel at professional courses, and operational deployments in countries like 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.

With the conclusion of a landmark agreement of the Singapore-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in May 2016, the Singapore-Australia bilateral defence relationship will be further elevated, with new defence initiatives including: (a) increased access to, and enhancement of, training areas over a period of 25 years; (b) new military and civilian exchanges and postings; (c) enhancement of Exercise Trident to a signature joint bilateral military exercise between the SAF and the ADF; (d) greater intelligence and information-sharing in areas of mutual interest, such as counter-terrorism; (e) new initiatives under the Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Defence Science and Technology; and (f) organisation of the inaugural Track 1.5 Dialogue in Australia to discuss regional security issues.