The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is taking part in the annual Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism (SEACAT) exercise with the United States Navy (USN) and navies from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Held from August 15 to 21, SEACAT, which was first held in 2002, is a series of annual exercises by the USN and navies of Southeast Asian countries to enhance maritime information-sharing and the coordination of maritime security responses.
The Singapore leg of SEACAT 08 is being conducted from August 18 to 20. As part of the exercise, ships transiting through Singapore waters will be tracked, and liaison officers from the RSN and other navies, on board a USN platform, will compile and analyse the data to create a shared maritime picture for enhanced situational awareness. Other drills include the boarding of US civil resource ships participating in the exercise as merchant vessels suspected of terrorist activities.
Singapore is taking part in this year's exercise with patrol vessels from the RSN, Police Coast Guard (PCG) patrol boats, a joint RSN-PCG Accompanying Sea Security Team (ASSeT), and maritime patrol aircraft from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), says a statement from Mindef.
Personnel from the Shipping Control Squadron of the RSN's Coastal Command, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority are also taking part in the exercise.
