REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE, MONDAY, 21 AUGUST 2023 – Seven (7) officers represented by the Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ), Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF), Royal Brunei Navy (RBN), and Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAirF) took part in the shore phase of the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) 2023 from 14 August until 18 August 2023.
Held at the Concorde Hotel, the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) personnel attended the Opening Ceremony of SEACAT 2023 and had also participated in various seminar and workshops such as the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Seminar, the Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) Workshop as well as the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Workshop. The seminar and workshops featured presentations and interactive sessions conducted by participating nations as well as non-military participants such as the EU Critical Maritime Route Wider Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO), The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), The Pew Charitable Trusts, Risk Intelligence and the United States Department of Transportation amongst others.
SEACAT is a multilateral exercise designed to enhance cooperation and interoperability amongst the Indo-Pacific nations and provide mutual support to address common problems in the maritime domain using standardised tactics, techniques and procedures. This year’s exercise saw the participation of 20 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
The second phase of SEACAT 2023 will see the involvement of various maritime and air assets participating in the exercise at sea across the Southeast Asian region beginning on 21 August until 25 August 2023. Running concurrently with the sea phase will be the Command Post Exercise (CPX), in which Singapore will serve as a centralised hub for crisis coordination and information sharing.
