Australia ‘fully committed’ to enhanced training access for Singapore army

The Australian government has assured Singapore it remains fully committed to implementing enhanced training access for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as laid out in the two countries’ 2016 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) agreement, said Second Minister for Defence Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (Apr 4).

The CSP agreement, signed in October last year, had proposed developing up to 200,000 hectares of farmland in the Townsville area starting in 2019 – a move which would have expanded the SAF’s training area in Australia to 10 times the size of Singapore.

The agreement between Singapore and Australia further spreads the message that Singapore and its soldiers are taking greater measures to developing the strength of its military. Due to the limited span of training area in Singapore to perform military exercises on, the heightened access into Australia’s territory would be a benefit to Singapore’s military force as it grants the SAF soldiers more experience in land and sea combat.