ENHANCING MARITIME SECURITY THROUGH SURPIC II

The navies of Singapore and Indonesia are headed towards greater interoperability and closer ties, following the signing of the SURPIC II agreement on 3 Dec, to further enhance maritime security of the Singapore Strait.

SURPIC II will be highly mobile and accessible as it will be internet-based, compared to its predecessor sea surveillance system, SURPIC I. The upgraded system will also incorporate the Open and Analysed Shipping Information System (OASIS) and the Sense-Making Analysis and Research Tool (SMART) for enhanced maritime situation awareness and sense-making respectively.

"SURPIC II will greatly enhance information sharing and coordination of operations between the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and TNI-AL (Indonesian Navy), and facilitate greater bilateral collaboration in dealing with maritime security threats," said Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Chow Ngee Ken, Comprehensive Maritime Awareness Group commander, Maritime Security Task Force (MSTF).

"And being an internet-based system, we can all access SURPIC II wherever there is a connection."

OASIS provides a near real-time maritime situation picture and a database of more than 150,000 vessels which traverse the regional straits daily. Together, OASIS and SMART complement each other, enabling personnel from both navies to make use of the maritime information quickly and effectively. Both systems are also being used in the Malacca Straits Patrol, a multilateral effort to combat piracy in the Straits.

Between them, the straits of Singapore and Malacca carry more than 50 percent of the world's trade in oil and more than 30 percent of the world's total trade.

The RSN and TNI-AL will be embarking on a year-long implementation drive to bring SURPIC II up to operational requirements after the signing ceremony.

The first phase will see senior RSN and TNI-AL commanders meeting in Batam, Indonesia, to discuss operational requirements. Initial training on the use of the SURPIC II portal for both RSN and TNI-AL personnel will also be conducted during this phase.

Reviews will follow, and SURPIC II is expected to commence by next December.

The SURPIC I agreement was signed on 27 May 2005.