SAF AND INDIAN ARMY SOLDIERS IN JOINT ARMOUR TRAINING EXERCISE

Training in a foreign land, under a different climate and terrain can be a challenge, but it is also rife with learning opportunities for the participating forces.

This is certainly the case for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel who have been training in Uttar Pradesh, India, said Major (MAJ) Lim Lit Lam, Commanding Officer of the 46th Battalion, Singapore Armoured Regiment.

More than 600 of his men had been training in the Babina Field Firing Range as part of a bilateral armour exercise, codenamed Bold Kurukshetra.

"Our soldiers have benefited from training alongside a regular army and their equipment. This has in turn spurred them on and I am quite proud of what our soldiers have done," MAJ Lim told cyberpioneer.

Exercise Bold Kurukshetra 2010, which brought together the SAF troops and soldiers from the Indian Army's 27th Armoured Brigade, is the sixth in the series.

For Lieutenant (LTA) Wang Zhiheng, a platoon commander in the exercise, he relished the opportunity to not only bond with his men and get to know them better, but also the chance to interact with the Indian troops.

"The bilateral exercise provided us with a good chance to work with them and learn from them, especially when they are such a professional army with a long history of army experience. It has been an enriching experience for me," he said.

Held annually in India since 2005, the bilateral exercise provides the opportunity for both armies to enhance mutual understanding and interoperability.

"The way the Indian Army operates their vehicles and fire their guns, covering each other, almost with some form of telepathy, is definitely something we can work towards," said MAJ Lim.

As part of the exercise, which ran from 1 to 27 Mar, the two armies took part in a battalion-level live firing exercise, involving the BIONIX Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the BRONCO All-Terrain Tracked Carrier from the SAF and the Indian Army's BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and PT-72 Main Battle Tank.

Despite temperatures soaring to a high of 40 degrees Celsius at the firing range, the troops and the armoured assets have fared well in the exercise, said MAJ Lim.

"In this kind of semi-desert, sandy terrain, the serviceability of the vehicles has been good and they were moving as fast as we needed them to," he said.

During the final day of the exercise, Minister of State for Defence Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee, visited the SAF troops training in Babina. While he was there, Associate Professor Koo also observed the live firing exercise on 27 Mar.

Associate Professors Koo's visit to India underscores the warm defence relations between the two countries, whose armed forces interact regularly through policy dialogues, visits, courses and exercises. Besides the Army, the Republic of Singapore Navy and Republic of Singapore Air Force also exercise regularly with their Indian counterparts.

27 Mar 10 - Minister of State for Defence Visits Bilateral Armour Exercise in India