SAF secure Aussie training ground about 4 times S’pore’s size

CANBERRA – The Singapore Armed Forces has secured the use of a large and “rare piece of training ground” in Queensland, which will provide more training opportunities to hone the Republic’s military capabilities, said Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen on Friday (Oct 14), as he lauded the significance of a landmark deal signed this week to allow Singapore enhanced access to training areas in Australia.

The Townsville Field Training Area in Queensland is about four times the size of Singapore, said Dr Ng, adding that the Australian Defence Force is in the process of acquiring another piece of training ground and joining them together so that the total will be five times the Republic’s size.

“It’s a very rare piece of training ground with enough size and distances for our armoured vehicles, for our mechanised and motorised brigades. And this is now available to us because of the Memorandum of Understanding (signed on Thursday), and it shows how significant the MOU that was signed is,” Dr Ng added in a statement released by the Ministry of Defence.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne after a helicopter familiarisation flight of the proposed expanded training area in Townsville on Friday, Dr Ng said the basis for strong defence relations between both sides is a long history of engagement, starting 75 years ago when Australian troops defended Singapore during the Second World War.

He noted that both sides have a “shared partnership and belief of what is good, what is right, what is good for Australia, what is good for Singapore, what is good for the region”.

Ms Payne added that “it’s not often in 2016, that you find yourself making a 25 year (defence) agreement”.

“It’s a really strong foundation for the development of the training area, for the development of training activities for the Singapore Armed forces. It’s an opportunity for us to reinforce, as I’ve said, the importance of that defence relationship.”

Commenting on the plans for the Townsville training area, Ms Payne said the focus could be on air operations, with masterplanning taking place in 2017 and 2018. Construction is expected to begin in 2019.

Dr Ng added that Singapore is looking to construct a state-of-art combined arms range as well as an urban live-firing training area.

Singapore and Australia enjoy long-standing, multi-faceted ties, with cooperation that spans the political, economic, defence, culture and the arts, and people-to-people spheres.

SAF has been conducting unilateral training in Australia for the past 26 years.

On Thursday, visiting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull witnessed the signing of several key agreements in Canberra under the ambit of the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) covering trade, defence, innovation, as well as combatting transnational drug crime.

Under the new defence agreement, the SAF will be able to conduct unilateral training in Australia for 18 weeks with 14,000 troops per year over 25 years, in training areas 10 times the size of Singapore. Singapore and Australia will also jointly develop military training areas and advanced facilities in northern Australia.

SAF’s current training facilities in Shoalwater Bay, which is around four times the size of Singapore, will be expanded in future to become an area around five times the size of the Republic.

In a Facebook posting on Friday, Dr Ng noted that Townsville’s city leaders and business community were very warm and hospitable and looking forward to SAF soldiers training there in future.

“Even though they accept us warmly, we should never forget that we must be good guests, and at all times, respect the people and their rights while giving back to their community,” he said.