Australia, Singapore enhance joint amphibious assault capabilities at Exercise ‘Trident'

The Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Adelaide seen here with Republic of Singapore Navy's lead Endurance-class LPD. Both vessels took part in a joint amphibious assault operation at Exercise ‘Trident' in September 2022. (Royal Australian Navy)

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) have validated their ability to conduct large-scale joint amphibious assault operations.

This capability was demonstrated at the 2022 iteration of Exercise ‘Trident', which is taking place at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia, between 23 September and 3 October. Exercise ‘Trident' is the largest bilateral military training activity between the two countries, and it has been held since 2013.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has deployed a Canberra-class amphibious assault ship to the exercise for the first time. The vessel, HMAS Adelaide (L01), is embarked with the LCM-1E landing craft as its primary ship-to-shore connector for the amphibious assault training activity.

Adelaide is one of two Canberra-class vessels operated by the RAN. The vessel has an overall length of about 230 m and displaces approximately 28,000 tonnes at full load. Besides landing craft, the vessel can also embark up to 18 helicopters to support its assault operations.

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has deployed two Endurance-class landing platform docks (LPDs) to the exercise for the first time, the SAF has confirmed. The vessels, which the SAF refers to as ‘landing ship, tanks' (LSTs), are also equipped with landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) to project the main body of its amphibious force.

The two vessels deployed by the RSN for Exercise ‘Trident' are first-of-class RSS Endurance (207) and third ship RSS Persistence (209).