Over 600 SAF personnel taking part in 10-day military exercise with US Marine Corps

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the United States Marine Corps (USMC) will be conducting a 10-day exercise from Mar. 17 to 26, called Exercise Valiant Mark (XVM).

This is the 27th edition of the annual bilateral exercise between the U.S. and Singapore.

The opening ceremony took place at Bedok Camp on Mar. 17 and was co-officiated by the Chief Guards Officer, Commander, 21st Singapore Division Colonel (COL) Wong Pui Chuan and Commander I Marine Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General Michael S. Cederholm.

Over 600 SAF personnel participating

The exercise's participants include more than 600 personnel from the 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards and 7th Singapore Infantry Brigade, and about 200 personnel from the Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia (MRF-SEA).

The exercise will include professional exchanges, live-firing and heliborne training, and culminate in a bilateral urban operations mission.

XVM started in 1991

According to MINDEF, XVM started in 1991 and underscores the "excellent" and "long-standing" relationship between the U.S. and Singapore.

Besides bilateral exercises, the two militaries also engage in a wide range of multilateral exercises, professional exchanges and cross-attendance of courses. Singapore also facilitates the US’ rotational deployments of US Littoral Combat Ships and P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

Top photo via MINDEF