Exercise Bersama Gold 2021

SHAH ALAM: Exercise Bersama Gold 2021. The 50th anniversary of Exercise Bersama Lima – held by the FPDA countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and UK – will be held this 8 to 16 October. The air exercise will take place within the Kuala Lumpur and Singapore FIR region, according to AIP notice issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia.

Apart from the air exercise, the FPDA countries will also held a maritime portion of the exercise likely off the southern, east coast of the Peninsula which will see the participation of two flat tops, UK Royal Navy HMS Queen Elizabeth and Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Canberra. Do note that a separate notice will be issued to mariners for the sea portion of the same exercise.

Both ships will be with their own task groups with Queen Elizabeth in Guam currently, while the Canberra is already in the region as part of the Indo Pacific Endeavour 2021 tasking.

Exercise BERSAMA GOLD 2021 (BG 21) will take place within the Kuala Lumpur and Singapore FIRs from 080001UTC to 161100UTC October 2021. The exercise airspace is split into 4 main areas A-D, a Low Flying area, specific air corridors, 2 Permanent Restricted Areas, and a Naval Firing / Air-to-Air Engagement Area. These areas will be active according to planned periods of intense aerial activity but released back to civil ATC when not required by military exercise traffic. Civil and non-exercise military aircraft can continue to operate unrestricted within the non-exercise airspace as set out in paragraph 7 except during periods of special activity set out in paragraph 3.

1.2 All exercise airspace will be active during the Air Defence Exercise (ADEX) intense aerial activity which is limited to two 3-hour windows between 0100-0400UTC and 0530-0830UTC daily for the period of 8 – 16 October 2021. There will be an additional ADEX from 1100 – 1430UTC on 11 and 12 October 2021. All exercise airspace will be active during the ADEX. Thereafter, all exercise airspace is released back to civil ATC except Area B, the Naval Firing / Air-to-Air Engagement Area and the Permanent Restricted Areas; these will be released separately according to planned exercise activity.

1.3 Special Activity period will take place from 140315UTC to 140345UTC October 2021. This activity will impose additional restrictions on air activity in the vicinity of Singapore Changi Airport. Further details on both ADEX and Special Activity restrictions are provided in paragraph 3.

It must be noted that even though Malaysia is hosting the exercise, none of the ships will be docked here before, during and after the exercise due to the concerns over the pandemic.

It is for this reason, the other nations aircraft will be operating from Singapore, I am told. This was a Malaysian request by the way and not anything else. There will be a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the FPDA, I am told, though it is unclear where it will be held, either in Butterworth or Subang.

— Malaysian Defence

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