Australia — ADF joins milestone security exercise

The Aus­tralian Defence Force (ADF) will par­tic­i­pate in Exer­cise BERSAMA LIMA 2011, a major mil­i­tary exer­cise with Sin­ga­pore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Unit­ed King­dom under the Five Pow­er Defence Arrange­ments (FPDA).

This year marks the 40th Anniver­sary of the suc­cess­ful FPDA, illus­trat­ing the long-term com­mit­ment of the found­ing mem­bers to region­al sta­bil­i­ty and defence to defence cooperation. 

To mark this impor­tant mile­stone, Min­is­ter Smith will attend the 40th Anniver­sary FPDA Defence Min­is­ters Meet­ing in Sin­ga­pore next month. 

Exer­cise BERSAMA LIMA 2011 will be con­duct­ed by the FPDA mem­ber coun­tries in var­i­ous loca­tions on the Malaysian Penin­su­la and in the South Chi­na Sea from 17 Octo­ber to 4 Novem­ber 2011. 

Chief of Joint Oper­a­tions Com­mand, Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Ash Pow­er said the FPDA pro­vides the ADF with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to devel­op rela­tion­ships with impor­tant secu­ri­ty part­ners while rein­forc­ing Australia’s long-term com­mit­ment to region­al peace and prosperity. 

“The FPDA con­tin­ues to be an inte­gral part of the region­al secu­ri­ty archi­tec­ture because of its abil­i­ty to remain rel­e­vant to the needs of its mem­bers by adapt­ing to the chang­ing secu­ri­ty envi­ron­ment,” Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Pow­er said. 

“Since the FPDA’s for­ma­tion the scope of its activ­i­ties has expand­ed from air defence to the devel­op­ment of joint capa­bil­i­ties, which has helped to devel­op greater inter­op­er­abil­i­ty among the armed forces of mem­ber nations,” Lieu­tenant Gen­er­al Pow­er said. 

Exer­cise BERSAMA LIMA 2011 will involve a total of 68 air­craft, 19 ships, 2 sub­marines and var­i­ous sup­port elements. 

Australia’s con­tri­bu­tion to the exer­cise includes Air Force mul­ti-role F/A‑18 Hor­nets, two Mine­hunters, a Replen­ish­ment ship and a Collins class submarine. 

The Com­man­der of the ADF forces, Brigadier Chris Hamil­ton, said BERSAMA LIMA aims to enhance the inter­op­er­abil­i­ty of the com­bined air, ground and naval forces of the FPDA coun­tries to con­duct com­bined and joint war­fare activities. 

“BERSAMA LIMA also explores oppor­tu­ni­ties to incor­po­rate Human­i­tar­i­an Assis­tance and Dis­as­ter Relief capac­i­ty build­ing,” Brigadier Hamil­ton said. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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