Some 600 personnel from the Republic of Singapore and Royal Malaysian Navy concluded ten days of drills as part of the bilateral exercise Malapura which took place from July 18 to 28.
Conducted since 1984, this year’s exercise was hosted by the Royal Malaysian Navy and saw the participation of six warships and two naval helicopters.
The participants carried out joint planning and training at Lumut Naval Base, and conducted conventional naval warfare and maritime security drills in the Malacca Strait.
Singapore took part in the exercise with frigate RSS Formidable, missile corvette RSS Victory, patrol vessel RSS Resilience and a Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk naval helicopter. Malaysia sent its frigate KD Lekiu, corvette KD Kasturi, patrol vessel KD Selangor and a Super Lynx helicopter.
The closing ceremony was held on Friday at the RSN’s Fleet Command Building in RSS Singapura – Changi Naval Base.
“The good mutual understanding between our sailors was key to the successful conduct of this exercise,” Commander of the RSN Task Group, Colonel Anthony Lee said during his closing remarks. “Both navies demonstrated high levels of interoperability during shore planning and various warfare serials at sea. This is testament of the good friendships and trust that have been forged over the years.”