Page 137 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep-Oct 2022

SEPTEMBER 2022-OCTOBER 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
LAND WARFARE
REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT 137
SHOALWATER BAY
This expanded overseas training program in- cluded Australia, when in 1990 the first of the Wallaby exercises was held in the Shoalwa- ter Bay Training Area (SWBTA) near Rock- hampton in Queensland. This was a relatively modest event by today’s standards, involving 1,200 Singaporean troops conducting ar- moured battle group exercises that culminat- ed in a command post exercise.
Allowing Singapore the use of SWBTA for training was a significant move for its mili- tary training, for Singaporean troops now had the use of a training area four times the size of Singapore to conduct armoured and other manoeuvres.
Since then, Exercise Wallaby has evolved to
be a key training activity in the Singaporean
training calendar, taking place annually and
involving up to 4,000 personnel. A typical
Wallaby is made up of several frames, each frame involving one major unit and with specific training objectives and scenario in mind, although it would involve other units in supporting roles.
An example is the 2018 exercise which was made up of three frames: the first being a three-week unilateral ma- noeuvre exercise for armour and air force units, involving integrated air-land live-firing by armoured vehicles and at- tack helicopters. The RSAF also conducted
SWBTA and the ranges to carry out an activity that is very restricted in Singapore due to space constraints. These in- clude the firing of helicopter ordnance, tank rounds in ad- dition to infantry small arms.
Helicopter missions also figure prominently at Exercise Wallaby, with conventional heliborne insertions, rappelling, as well as resupply with underslung loads being a staple at the exercise. As mentioned above, ship-to-shore helicopter
large scale air-land training for air-land strike, heliborne insertion, C-130 resupply airdrops, divisional air defence, airspace control and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations.
Frame 2 that year was essentially an ex- panded extension of the previous frame, aimed at maintaining the competencies of the SAF’s Mechanised Combined Arms Brigade. The air-land operations conducted in this frame are similar to Frame 1 but on a larger scale and roped in mechanised infantry into an event that lasted a further two weeks.
“SINGAPOREAN TROOPS NOW HAD THE USE OF A TRAINING AREA FOUR TIMES THE SIZE OF SINGAPORE TO CONDUCT ARMOURED AND OTHER MANOEUVRES”
operations have also taken place at Wallaby, while live firing is conducted by both the AH- 64 Apaches and from door-guns fitted on RSAF transport helicopters, the latter being something rarely seen in Singapore.
The large training area also provides an ideal location for Singapore’s military to test new concepts and systems. The 2012 exer- cise, for example, allowed 700 troops from the 5th Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regi- ment, to evaluate its mobility and system re- liability of their new Terrex infantry carrier vehicles after having been the first unit to convert to the type as they transitioned into
Wallaby has also started including naval assets, the latter in the form of amphibious assault training with Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) Endurance-class Landing Platform Docks. They have been used to support amphibious opera- tions, specifically carrying out “coastal hooks” and ship-to- shore operations using helicopters and landing craft.
TRAINING WITH THE ADF
In recent years the exercise has folded into Exercise Tri- dent, a bilateral training activity with the ADF, and the 2018 iteration saw ADF personnel take part in the ship to shore phase of the exercise. This was the third frame of Wallaby 2018 and was an opportunity to foster in- teroperability between both militaries in the conduct of sea-air integration.
A key component of Exercise Wallaby is live firing, with SAF units at the exercise making use of the size of the
a mechanised infantry unit.
The vast training space allows the Terrex ICVs to ma-
noeuvre long distances and conduct live-firing at the bat- talion level with various land and air platforms, the bat- talion also taking the opportunity to practise dismounted attacks, helicopter insertion and urban combat operations.
The unit concluded its training with an integrated live- firing drill alongside Leopard 2SG main battle tanks, Sky- blade III mini-unmanned aerial vehicles, and Apache at- tack helicopters for the first time.
LEFT: Singaporean and Australian soldiers training together during Exercise Trident
ABOVE: A Singapore Army Bionix infantry fighting vehicle in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA)
SINGAPORE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE