F-35 fighter jets, drones among next-gen tech for future FPDA drills

Grouping will also venture into building capabilities in non-conventional’ fields

- Wong Pei Ting Correspondent

F-35 fighter jets from Australia. P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from New Zealand. Elements of Britain's Carrier Strike Group. Unmanned systems.

These are some of the next-generation capabilities that will be incorporated in future joint military drills under the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), which Singapore is a part of.

These ideas were discussed on May 31, as defence representatives of the FPDA countries - Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Britain - met for the 12th FPDA Defence Ministers' Meeting (FDMM), where they agreed to include more high-end capabilities in exercises under the grouping.

The FDMM, which is the highest decision-making platform of the FPDA, is held every three years, with Singapore and Malaysia taking turns to host it. This time, the meeting is held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which kicked off on May 31 as well.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia will be contributing F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Exercise Bersama Lima later this year.

The exercise is one of the regular drills aimed at building the ability for FPDA countries to operate well together, as well as improving the proficiency of their air, maritime and land forces.

Pointing out that this will make it the first time a fifth-generation aircraft will participate in Bersama Lima, Mr Marles said: "It's an example of what we are trying to do in terms of increasing the complexity of these exercises and the higher nature of them." New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins said a P-8 Poseidon will be deployed to Singapore for the first time as part of the drills.

The P-8 aircraft is the premier US submarine hunter-tracker.