Expansion of Singapore Armed Forces' training area in Australia on track for 2024 completion

SHOALWATER BAY, Queensland: The enemy is gaining ground.

In response, Terrex infantry carrier and Belrex protected combat support vehicles advance, firing and probing for defensive weak spots.

Within minutes, aircraft arrive as reinforcements, with F-16D+ fighter jets setting off flares to counter surface-to-air missile threats. Apache helicopters lend extra firepower to the battle while their Chinook counterparts cut off enemy soldiers and vehicles before they can go any further.

All of which culminates in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) pushing back and ultimately capturing enemy territory: Mission accomplished.

This was the scenario in a motorised battalion live-firing exercise on Wednesday (Oct 11), held towards the end of Exercise Wallaby 2023 and the first since 2012.

The SAF’s largest unilateral overseas exercise takes place annually in Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia. Here, personnel can take advantage of the vast terrain and airspace - about four times the size of Singapore - to conduct complex and large-scale exercises that cannot be done back home.

Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad, who visited troops during the live-firing exercise, told reporters that an expansion of Shoalwater Bay Training Area is on track to be completed next year.

The SAF and Australian Defence Force will also be able to use an Urban Operations Live Firing Facility and Combined Arms Air-Land Range to conduct advanced training, integrated exercises and live-firings.

Last year, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said that the Shoalwater expansion, along with the adjacent Greenvale Training Area set to be completed in 2028, will give the SAF a combined training area 10 times the size of Singapore.

The SAF can then conduct training for up to 18 weeks, involving up to 14,000 personnel and up to 2,400 vehicles and equipment annually for 25 years.

The expansion comes under a treaty for military training and training area development in Australia, signed by the two nations in 2020.

Mr Zaqy said on Wednesday: “With this, we are in a good position to continue and allow NSmen (national servicemen) to experience more large-scale exercises in a realistic urban environment.

“Such training opportunities will ensure the SAF remains effective and capable in defending Singapore when called upon."

Mr Zaqy also thanked the Australian government, Australia Defence Force and local communities for supporting Singapore and “being wonderful hosts” for the past 33 years, since the first Exercise Wallaby was held.

This latest edition is the largest in seven years, featuring about 4,300 personnel and 450 assets across the Singapore Army, Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and Republic of Singapore Navy.

Wednesday also marked the first time that the Belrex protected combat support vehicles - a new variant of what was initially introduced in 2021 - fired live mortar rounds, in Shoalwater Bay.

Major Hew Yin Hou, an F-16D+ weapon systems officer, said the RSAF worked “very closely and intimately” with the Army in conducting missions at Exercise Wallaby.

“When we are airborne, we’re there such that they can always call upon us when the firepower is needed. So what the fighters can offer is our speed, our reach, our flexibility and of course firepower,” he added.

Major Hew called his first Exercise Wallaby a “very refreshing experience”, given that fighters do not normally have the “luxury” of training for weeks with Army personnel.

“It is very essential for us, as the operators, to continue to gain access to this airspace and terrain to continue our tech competencies as a fighter aircrew,” he said.