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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Australia extends SAF training deal for 10 years
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Exercises and field tests can continue at Queensland's Shoalwater Bay </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jermyn Chow
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</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Australian Defence Minister Fitzgibbon (left) and DPM Teo at yesterday's signing of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area agreement. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE and Australia signed a deal yesterday that will allow Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) troops to train in Queensland for another 10 years, to 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean and his Australian defence counterpart Joel Fitzgibbon signed the Shoalwater Bay Training Area agreement on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Let's make a deal
Defence diplomacy and defence deals go hand-in-hand at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Alongside ministers, generals, analysts and academics were executives of top defence companies such as Boeing.
Indonesia and US in talks to purchase planes
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The new deal builds on a defence cooperation agreement sealed last August by the prime ministers of the two countries, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Mr Kevin Rudd.
The Shoalwater Bay Training Area is about four times the size of Singapore, with diverse terrain, including the rugged outback, rainforests and mountains.
The SAF holds one of its biggest annual exercises, codenamed Wallaby, in Shoalwater.
Up to 6,600 SAF personnel and 400 vehicles are involved in the manoeuvres, which last 45 days.
In the most recent exercise, held in October last year, the SAF's latest battle tanks - the Leopard 2A4s - were put through their paces.
The Queensland training area has been used over the past few years by the SAF to field-test its latest high-tech equipment such as battlefield robots.
The battlefield experiments were part of the SAF's drive to shape itself into a third-generation (3G) fighting force, where weapons and personnel are linked in an electronic network to share battlefield information, allowing forces to move rapidly and hit the enemy with lethal firepower.
Training in Shoalwater started in 1990. The arrangement was formalised in 1999 and extended once in 2005 for five years.
Singapore's Defence Ministry said yesterday that the new deal reinforces the excellent bilateral defence relationship between Singapore and Australia.
It said interactions between both militaries are 'extensive and substantive'.
They include training exercises, professional exchanges and attendance of each other's courses, which both armed forces find mutually beneficial and useful in fostering greater understanding between their personnel.
'The SAF's training at the Shoalwater Bay training area is an important element of the strong bilateral defence ties,' said Mindef.
Australia is among the dozen or so countries where the SAF conducts overseas training. These include the United States, India, South Africa and more recently, Germany.
It provides the SAF diversity in terrain and to try out new techniques and tactics. It is also a way to overcome constraints in training space in land-scarce Singapore. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Exercises and field tests can continue at Queensland's Shoalwater Bay </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Jermyn Chow
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Australian Defence Minister Fitzgibbon (left) and DPM Teo at yesterday's signing of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area agreement. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE and Australia signed a deal yesterday that will allow Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) troops to train in Queensland for another 10 years, to 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean and his Australian defence counterpart Joel Fitzgibbon signed the Shoalwater Bay Training Area agreement on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Let's make a deal
Defence diplomacy and defence deals go hand-in-hand at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Alongside ministers, generals, analysts and academics were executives of top defence companies such as Boeing.
Indonesia and US in talks to purchase planes
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The new deal builds on a defence cooperation agreement sealed last August by the prime ministers of the two countries, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Mr Kevin Rudd.
The Shoalwater Bay Training Area is about four times the size of Singapore, with diverse terrain, including the rugged outback, rainforests and mountains.
The SAF holds one of its biggest annual exercises, codenamed Wallaby, in Shoalwater.
Up to 6,600 SAF personnel and 400 vehicles are involved in the manoeuvres, which last 45 days.
In the most recent exercise, held in October last year, the SAF's latest battle tanks - the Leopard 2A4s - were put through their paces.
The Queensland training area has been used over the past few years by the SAF to field-test its latest high-tech equipment such as battlefield robots.
The battlefield experiments were part of the SAF's drive to shape itself into a third-generation (3G) fighting force, where weapons and personnel are linked in an electronic network to share battlefield information, allowing forces to move rapidly and hit the enemy with lethal firepower.
Training in Shoalwater started in 1990. The arrangement was formalised in 1999 and extended once in 2005 for five years.
Singapore's Defence Ministry said yesterday that the new deal reinforces the excellent bilateral defence relationship between Singapore and Australia.
It said interactions between both militaries are 'extensive and substantive'.
They include training exercises, professional exchanges and attendance of each other's courses, which both armed forces find mutually beneficial and useful in fostering greater understanding between their personnel.
'The SAF's training at the Shoalwater Bay training area is an important element of the strong bilateral defence ties,' said Mindef.
Australia is among the dozen or so countries where the SAF conducts overseas training. These include the United States, India, South Africa and more recently, Germany.
It provides the SAF diversity in terrain and to try out new techniques and tactics. It is also a way to overcome constraints in training space in land-scarce Singapore. [email protected]
