Australien/UK/NZ/Malaysia/Singapore — Exercise Bersama Shield 2010

Six hun­dred Aus­tralian Defence Force per­son­nel have par­tic­i­pat­ed in Exer­cise Bersama Shield 2010 (BS10), a mul­ti-lat­er­al exer­cise between Aus­tralia, Malaysia, Sin­ga­pore, New Zealand and the Unit­ed King­dom.

Group pho­to of the Bersama Shield 75 Squadron deploy­ment mem­bers at Roy­al Mil­i­tary Air Force Base But­ter­worth. Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

Ori­on AP-3C Crew mem­bers from 10 Squadron con­duct a mis­sion dur­ing Bersama Shield 2010 out of Roy­al Mil­i­tary Air Force Base But­ter­worth. Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

The exer­cise con­tin­ued to build on the close work­ing rela­tion­ship that has been devel­oped between the five nations through the Five Pow­er Defence Arrange­ments (FPDA) over almost forty years. 

The par­tic­i­pat­ing nations gath­ered on the Malaysian penin­su­la and the South Chi­na Sea from 26 April to 7 May to enhance inter­op­er­abil­i­ty in the com­bined air and mar­itime exercise. 

ADF assets par­tic­i­pat­ing in this annu­al exer­cise includ­ed HMA Ships Anzac and Suc­cess, eight F/A‑18 com­bat air­craft from 75 Squadron and an AP-3C Ori­on mar­itime patrol air­craft from 10 Squadron.

In total, 59 com­bat air­craft, sev­en war­ships and almost 2500 per­son­nel from the par­tic­i­pat­ing nations were involved in BS10. 

Com­man­der of the Aus­tralian Con­tin­gent, Wing Com­man­der Ken Robin­son said the annu­al exer­cise pro­vides the ADF with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to devel­op rela­tion­ships with impor­tant region­al part­ners while rein­forc­ing Australia’s long-term com­mit­ment to region­al capac­i­ty building.

“The FPDA was estab­lished as a region­al secu­ri­ty ini­tia­tive almost 40 years ago and has now evolved to be an inte­gral part of Australia’s region­al engage­ment strat­e­gy,” WGCDR Robin­son said.

BS10 also pro­vid­ed a great plat­form for the ADF’s F/A‑18 Hor­nets to dis­play their air pow­er pro­fes­sion­al mas­tery and tactics. 

Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of 75 Squadron, Wing Com­man­der Phil Arms said his squadron con­duct­ed a range of tac­ti­cal mis­sions in the unpre­dictable trop­i­cal weath­er con­di­tions. “The eight Hor­nets con­duct­ed a total of 98 sor­ties through­out the exer­cise to achieve a range of tac­ti­cal mis­sions includ­ing recon­nais­sance, inter­dic­tion and defen­sive air oper­a­tions while net­worked with oth­er FPDA com­bat air­craft and war­ships,” WGCDR Arms said. 

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