Page 48 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

48 DEFENCE IN THE NORTH
OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Strike Group, a first-ever Patriot missile live-fire in Austra- lia, and the first-ever airlift of an American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System by a foreign aircraft (a RAAF C- 17A Globemaster).
For the Singaporean Armed Forces, the expanses of Aus- tralia’s north offer an unrivalled opportunity to conduct realistic training scenarios. These fall under the Oakey Agreement, which allows for a permanent helicopter pres- ence, and the broader Australia-Singapore Military Train- ing Initiative (ASMTI), which will see an expanded Singa- porean training presence across the board.
Under the terms of the 1996 Oakey Agreement, Singapore has maintained a detachment of battlefield helicopters at the Army Aviation facility in Oakey for more than 20 years.
Initially this was a fleet of 12 Airbus Helicopters AS332M/M1 Super Pumas, which were later replaced by five CH-47D Chinooks. In August 2020 Defence announced that the Republic of Singapore Air Force presence would expand to 10 newly-built CH-47F heli- copters, which came from an (unannounced) order of 16. These arrived in May this year and a month later Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) was certified to begin maintaining the helicopters and providing logistical support services.
“This key milestone marks the first time BDA has had the opportunity to support this valuable customer,” Amy List, BDA Director of Sustainment Operations, said.
“THE EXPANSES OF AUSTRALIA'S NORTH OFFER AN UNRIVALLED OPPORTUNITY TO CONDUCT REALISTIC TRAINING SCENARIOS”
The ASMTI, which involves an $800 million expansion of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area and the creation of a new training area near Greenvale in Queensland, falls under the umbrella of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed between Australia and Singa- pore in 2015. A Memorandum of Understanding on an in-
creased Singaporean military training presence in Austra- lia was then signed in 2016 and upgraded to a treaty in March last year.
Three companies were subsequently shortlisted for the Greenvale build; CPB Contractors, Laing O’Rourke and Lendlease Building. CPB Contractors were awarded the initial $23.5 million first phase contract in November 2020 and are expected to start full works in mid-2022. La- ing O’Rourke holds responsibility for the Shoalwater Bay expansion, which is expected to be completed in 2024. A number of local companies have won contracts on these works, including Golding Contractors and Tunuba.
Eventually the AMSTI will see 14,000 Singaporean troops cycle through Australia for 18 weeks each year, split into two nine-week periods. In a joint communique issued on August 27 after the Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee meeting, Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton confirmed the centrality of these training ar- rangements to Australia’s deepening relationship with Singapore: “Despite the pandemic, the Singapore Armed
Forces’ training such as Exercise Wallaby 2021, and Re- public of Singapore Air Force detachments, as well as the joint development of training areas and advanced training facilities in Queensland, are progressing as scheduled,” the Ministers said.
It is likely that northern Australia will also begin to see a greater Japanese presence in coming years following the signing of a Reciprocal Access Agreement in late 2020, which will create a framework for how both nations’ troops operate in each other’s territory.
According to PM Scott Morrison, the agreement will fa- cilitate greater and more complex practical engagement be- tween the ADF and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and support joint involvement in broader multilateral exercises.
“The only other such agreement that Japan has struck