SAF TAKES PART IN EX SUMAN WARRIOR

Over 10 days, about 50 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel participated in a land exercise hosted by the British Army in York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The annual Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) exercise - code-named Suman Warrior - concluded the 22nd in the series on 15 Sep.

The exercise saw participants from the five FPDA member nations' armies working together in a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operation at the brigade level, enhancing interoperability among their forces.

The SAF delegation, led by Major (MAJ) Fairoz Bin Hassan of the 7th Singapore Infantry Brigade, comprised personnel from different units which play different roles in HADR operations.

He noted: "Exercise Suman Warrior was very useful to the SAF as we got to practise and validate our interoperability with our FPDA partners.

"Our soldiers learnt to work in an unfamiliar environment and picked up best practices from their respective foreign counterparts."

His sentiments were echoed by Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Norsham Bin Md Tap, the head of the Malaysian Armed Forces delegation, who said: "This HADR exercise allowed us to come together to establish a common language which enhances the relationship among the five nations."

He added: "The commitment and effort put in by the local authorities to make the exercise more realistic was for me, the highlight of the exercise."

This series of annual exercises aims to enhance the exchange of professional expertise, promote mutual understanding and strengthen ties among personnel of the FPDA countries for greater interoperability.

The FPDA, whose members are Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.