MV Mentor, seen here as it arrives at Changi Naval Base in May 2024. (Singapore MINDEF)

Singapore has leased MV Mentor, a 193 m cargo vessel, to support its navy's training requirements.

The vessel has been leased on a commercially owned and commercially operated arrangement, said a Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) spokesperson in a 21 May email response to questions from Janes .

It will support the Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN's) NSman training requirements, reads the reply in reference to its pool of military reservists. MV Mentor will also be involved in selected maritime exercises and operations, it added.

MINDEF has not given further details of the vessel, which will replace MV Avatar – an older general cargo vessel that was also re-purposed for training operations.

However, open-source information indicates that the MV Mentor was built in 2003 as a roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) cargo ship by German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft.

Saab, Inc builds the aft fuselage for the US Air Force's T-7 jet trainer at a new facility in West Lafayette, Indiana. Above, the T-7 engineering and manufacturing development aircraft takes off from St Louis on its first flight in June 2023. (Boeing)

Saab continues to expand in the US through its Syracuse, New York-based subsidiary, Saab, Inc. In April, the company announced plans to build a new munitions facility in the US and unveiled the Skapa initiative to rapidly develop new capabilities and products, as Janes reported at the time. In the last year, Saab, Inc opened four new US facilities: two in the San Diego area and two in New England, Tom Disy, director of business development for Saab, Inc, told journalists at Saab headquarters in Stockholm on 13 May.

Seen here firing weapons in the Red Sea in October 2023, USS Carney benefited from shoreside support for Aegis performance during recent successful operations in the region. (US Navy)

The commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) underscored the capability of ship sailors and long-distance shoreside support to use and adapt recent Aegis combat system operations for effective defence against adversary missiles and unmanned systems in the Red Sea during a 20 May media roundtable discussion of those operations.

“We have an incredible network of system technicians and technical assistants to provide that distant support,” Commander Jeremy Robertson said.

The support network includes US Navy (USN) Surface Warfare Tactics Instructors (WTIs) from the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) and analysts from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Corona Division, which serves as the navy's independent assessment agent for data analytics, Cdr Robertson noted.

“There is an incredible wealth of knowledge and reach back,” he said, highlighting the shoreside “troubleshooting distant support”.

Carney