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SPEEDY: An F-111 takes off from RMAF Base Butterworth.
Photo by LACW Melina Mancuso
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AIR Force pilots, aircrew and vital support personnel recently participated in the largest Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA) exercise ever conducted.
Exercise Bersama Padu, which means ‘Together United’ in Malay, was conducted by the military forces of Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore over the Malaysian peninsula and South China Sea from September 4-24.
The exercise involved a total of 85 aircraft, including 10 F/A-18s from 77SQN, four F-111s from 6SQN, one B707 from 33SQN and two AP-3Cs from 11SQN, as well as F-16 Fighting Falcons, MiG 29Ns, Hawk lead-in jet fighters and F-18C/Ds from the other FPDA member countries.
Air Commander Australia AVM John Quaife, who attended the opening ceremony in Singapore, said the exercise enhanced the interoperability, operational capability and mutual cooperation among the armed forces from the FPDA nations.
AVM Quaife said the exercise also enhanced regional peace and stability, and strengthened the FPDA’s ability to deal with the security challenges facing the region today.
ACAUST told AIR FORCE News that Bersama Padu was the largest and most complex FPDA exercise to date and was based on lessons learnt from previous FPDA exercises.
“Exercise Bersama Padu provided an important opportunity for the men and women of the Air Force to train with a multinational force that included Air Force and Navy representatives,” he said.
AVM Quaife said the aim of the exercise was to tackle various scenarios of threats to maritime security and to enhance coordination among the forces in the defence of the sea lines of communication.
He went on to say the exercise scenario focused on both the operational and tactical levels of warfare, as well as providing Air Force personnel with a valuable learning experience operating in a multinational environment.
The exercise was divided into three phases, the pre-exercise training and planning phase; the training phase, when training at various levels was conducted for the maritime and air units; and the live exercise phase, during which the exercise was conducted by the FPDA tactical forces at sea.
GPCAPT Leo Davies, OC 82WG, said the Air Force elements conducted force integration training, tactical exercises and maritime security exercises within Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, as well as in the South China Sea.
“The Air Force elements operated from Malaysia’s Butterworth air base and Singapore’s Paya Lebar air base, from where they conducted a number of patrols, interdictions and air defence scenarios,” GPCAPT Davies said.
Air Force assets also joined the other members of the FPDA in carrying out a maritime interdiction operation serial as part of the joint exercise.
CO 6SQN WGCDR Ken Quinn said “Bersama Padu provided a fantastic opportunity for 6SQN to practise its capability to deploy, operate and redeploy to an overseas base in a multinational Coalition environment to exercise its deployed air combat capability.
“The FPDA exercises are growing in complexity and the training value is increasing all the time.”
During the exercise, Air Force personnel participated in operational level planning at the exercise HQ, situated in Paya Lebar air base.
Paya Lebar air base served as the headquarters, where its action information system helped provide a near real-time comprehensive surface and air picture that was shared extensively across tactical units, players, planners and exercise decision-makers.
Staffed jointly by personnel from all five member countries, it helped level up the operational-level play and handle the increased complexity that was introduced in the exercise.
