News RAF Eurofighters and Voyager to join Carrier Strike Group for FPDA exercise in South East Asia

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RAF Personnel have taken part in the first of this year’s Five Power Defence Arrangements exercises in South East Asia.

Exercise Bersama Shield 2021 was the first FPDA exercise since 2019 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The exercise, known as a Command Post exercise, was designed to prove the organisational structure of the Combined Joint Task Force Headquarters and confirmed the serviceability of the associated communications infrastructure.

In addition to personnel from the five nations based in Malaysia, the exercise also took place online for the first time, with personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and United Kingdom augmenting the Malaysian based personnel from their respective nations. This novel means of working has been assessed by the FPDA to have been a success.

“Together, the five nations have shown resilience in these unique and challenging circumstances to organise and deliver a successful exercise. This marks an important beginning to our Golden Jubilee year celebrations, and in doing so we have made significant strides in preparations for Exercise Bersama Lima 2021. This exercise has demonstrated in difficult times the adaptability of our member nations to use alternative platforms, and their steadfast commitment to the FPDA.”
Chief of Staff Colonel Lau Mun Leng (Republic of Singapore Air Force)
Exercise Director at FPDA’s Headquarters Integrated Area Defence System

A key element of the exercise was to use of the new Joint Warfare Centre at the Joint Force Headquarters in Kuantan, Malaysia for this exercise. This allowed the new facilities to be tested and potential issues identified, that can now be addressed. This will be essential for the successful conduct of Exercise Bersama Lima 2021 scheduled for October, the major FPDA exercise of the year and which the RAF is currently planning to deploy Typhoons and a Voyager to take part in.

Exercise Bersama Shield 2021 was the first key event of the 50th Anniversary year for the FPDA. The next exercise will be Exercise Suman Warrior 2021 in July, hosted by Singapore, and then Exercise Bersama Lima 2021 in October, hosted by Malaysia.

In addition to this year’s exercises, the FPDA Defence Chiefs Conference will be held in June hosted by Malaysia. This will be followed by the FPDA Defence Ministers Meeting in October also in Malaysia.

The FPDA exercises are designed to offer significant value, by enhancing cooperation on conventional military operations, building trust and confidence, developing greater people-to-people links and fostering interoperability between member nations’ armed forces.

RAF Personnel take part in first South East Asia Exercise of the year | Royal Air Force

RAF Personnel have taken part in the first of this year’s Five Power Defence Arrangements exercises in South East Asia.

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