SINGAPORE - The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) deployed the Victory-class missile corvettes RSS Valiant and RSS Vigour in the multilateral Exercise Kakadu off the coast of Darwin in the far north of Australia.

The biennial exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Navy gives navies in the region a chance to strengthen inter-operability and promote mutual trust.

This was the largest in scale of the 14 exercises since the series began in 1993 - with 23 ships, one submarine, 21 aircraft and more than 3,000 personnel from 27 countries participating in the event held from Aug 30 to Sept 14, according to Mindef.

The participating countries were Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, China, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, United States and Vietnam.

The shore phase held from Aug 30 to Sept 5 included joint exercise planning and the Fleet Commanders' Conference.

During the conference, RSN Fleet Commander, Rear-Admiral Edwin Leong, joined his counterparts and their representatives to discuss ways to strengthen regional cooperation in the maritime domain.

During the sea phase of the exercise from Sept 6 to 13, navies conducted surface warfare activity such as gunnery firing and manoeuvring and air defence exercises against fighter aircraft.

The commanding officer of RSS Valiant, Lieutenant-Colonel Tan Say Yong, said: "This year's exercise sees the highest numbers of participating assets and personnel since Exercise Kakadu began in 1993.

"The exercise serves as a platform for like-minded navies to work together to enhance practical cooperation in dealing with conventional and maritime security threats."