Page 48 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2022

48 INFRASTRUCTURE ASMTI
JULY-AUGUST 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AND EXPANDED TRAINING
On 29 June 2015 Australia and Singapore elevated their bi- lateral relationship into that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), agreeing to “deepen existing areas of cooperation and catalyse new ones” with a pledge to imple- ment a roadmap to fulfil the CSP within a decade.
The roadmap seeks to achieve new levels of integration and cooperation in the economic, foreign affairs, defence, security and people-to-people fields. In defence, this will see an increased access to, and enhancement of, training areas including joint development of military training facilities in Australia, consistent with the requirements of both countries, while respecting Australia's sovereignty and noting Australia's ownership; New military and civilian exchanges and postings; New training initiatives and greater collaboration in areas such as counter-terrorism, cyber security and other transna- tional threats; Greater intelligence and information-sharing in areas of common interest, such as new security challenges in
“THE EXPANDED SWBTA AND THE GVTA ARE EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED BY 2024 AND 2028 RESPECTIVELY”
counter-terrorism and extremism; and the enhancement and renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Cooperation in Defence Science and Technology.
An MoU on Military Training and Training Area Devel- opment in Australia was then signed in 2016 under the CSP which provided Singapore with enhanced and expanded military training area access in Australia over a period of 25 years, and for both countries to jointly develop military training areas and facilities in Australia.
This was then elevated to a treaty on Military Training and Training Area Development in Australia on 23 March 2020. Under this, both countries agreed to jointly develop military training areas and facilities in an expanded Shoalwater Bay Training Area and the new Greenvale Training Area (GVTA) near Townsville in Queensland. Facilities to be built under the treaty will be mutually agreed upon by both countries, and procurement undertaken by Australia will be carried out in a transparent, open and competitive manner.
ABOVE: A Republic of Singapore Air Force F-15SG at RAAF Darwin during Exercise Pitch Black 2018
SWBTA AND GVTA
The expanded SWBTA and the GVTA are expected to be completed by 2024 and 2028 respectively. According to De- fence, development at the SWBTA is underway and cur- rently forecast to be completed in mid-2024, enabling joint use from later that year. Development at the GVTA is fore- cast for completion in late 2027.
This is a significant increase from the current agreement, which allows 6,600 personnel and 500 vehicles to train in Australia for up to six weeks.
According to the Singapore Ministry of Defence, the ad- vanced training facilities will be equipped with advanced targets and instrumentation, and will include Combined Arms Air-Land Ranges and Urban Operations Live-Firing Facilities, will be built within the expanded SWBTA and the GVTA.
The Combined Arms Air-Land Ranges allow the Singa- pore Army and the RSAF to train together with tanks, infan- try fighting vehicles, unmanned aircraft, artillery and other combined arms platforms, while the Urban Operations Live- Firing Facilities enable various air and combined arms plat- forms to conduct live-firing in a realistic urban environment.
In July 2021 it was announced by the Queensland state government that it had struck a deal with 70 landowners to secure 302,000 hectares for construction and use for the GVTA, with work on building training facilities due to start in 2022. Defence told ADM that as of May 2022, $19.5 mil- lion worth of contracts have been awarded for site inves- tigations. The Managing Contractor, CPB Contractors is completing the design of the GVTA development.
Meanwhile work on SWBTA is ongoing, with several projects already contracted for the improvement of the fa- cilities. Figures provided by Defence indicate $653 million worth of contracts have been awarded for design develop- ment, site investigations and sub-contractor packages to support delivery of the major capital facilities, with con- struction work approximately 50 per cent complete.
A new precinct at the training area was opened in No- vember 2021 as part of the expansion of the training area under ASMTI and included the construction of an Urban Operations Live Fire (UOLF) facility comprising ten build- ings of varying shapes.
Other works include enabling infrastructure such as roads, fencing, firebreaks and entry point, camp accommodation and supporting infrastructure, storage and an urban opera- tions live fire facility. The construction of an additional ‘Af- ter Action Review Building’ is underway, which will provide a space where training outcomes can be reviewed, assessed and debriefed immediately following a training activity.
The new precinct will include a Combined Arms Air Land Range and associated Hardened Manoeuvre Corri- dors providing an area capable of supporting advanced live fire activities, as well as facilities including a vehicle wash point, ammunition transfer point and staging area.
In addition to major capital facilities and infrastructure works at SWBTA and GVTA, Townsville has been select- ed as the preferred location for a new storage and main- tenance facility to support independent Singapore Armed Forces training in Australia. ■
NIGEL PITTAWAY