A Singapore Air Force Super Puma helicopter takes off from the flight deck of the RSS Resolution (LST 208). The USS Russell (DDG 59) is in the background. Photo by Lt. Kevin Borden, USN

RSN sailors discuss the operation of the BQM-74E aerial drone with a U.S. Navy sailor. The drone was launched from the USS McCampbell during the at-sea portion of the exercise. Photo by JOSN David Ham, USN

Rear Adm. Quinn was referring to a number of technological improvements for CARAT Singapore 2004. These included the first deployment of the Portable Allied Command, Control, and Communications Terminal, known as PAC3T, aboard an RSN ship, the RSS Resolution (LST 208). PAC3T allows information exchange and sharing of a common operational picture, when the combined RSN/U.S. Navy command staff leads the underway portion of the exercise aboard the RSS Resolution. PAC3T includes a monitor display with maps for the visual tracking of ships. 
Additionally, installing the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System, known as CENTRIXS, aboard RSS Resolution gave ships of both navies email and “chat” communications capabilities. This was the first use of CENTRIXS during CARAT. 

“These two systems [PAC3T and CENTRIXS] will increase the headquarters staff’s situational awareness and our mutual interoperability,” said Rear Adm. Quinn. “In a real world contingency, this capability could make a difference between success and failure.”

During the exercise, Col. Ng Chee Peng, Commander of the RSN’s 1st Flotilla and its CARAT task group, and U.S. Navy Capt. Lothrop S. Little, Commander of Destroyer Squadron One and the U.S. Navy CARAT Task Group, along with his staff, worked side by side aboard the RSS Resolution. “This is a groundbreaking development,” noted Rear Adm. Quinn. He also noted that the inclusion of the guided missile destroyers USS Russell (DDG 59) and USS McCampbell (DDG 85) for the first time in CARAT “symbolizes the U.S. Navy’s commitment to this exercise, Singapore, and this region of the world.”  

During CARAT Singapore, personnel from the Singapore Armed Forces, the U.S. Navy, and U.S. Coast Guard took part in at-sea gun and missile shoots and in-port force protection drills. A combined RSN-U.S. Navy task group included the RSN ships RSS Resolution; the missile corvettes RSS Victory and RSS Vengeance; the missile gunboats RSS Sea Wolf and RSS Sea Tiger; and the submarine RSS Centurion. The U.S. Navy ships included the dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), and the guided missile destroyers USS Russell (DDG 59) and USS McCampbell (DDG 85). The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mellon (WHEC 717) also participated. Meanwhile, the crew of the rescue and salvage ship USS Salvor (ARS 52) conducted diving and salvage training with their RSN counterparts.

RSN sailors, U.S. sailors, and U.S. Coast Guardsmen painted a common area and helped build a new fence at the Yio Chu Kang Job Development Center, which provides training for some 100 elderly disabled adults. The center is part of the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore network of facilities. The movement assists over 2,000 people and is one of the oldest and largest non-governmental organizations of its kind in Singapore.

As the work wound down, the RSN and U.S. service members entertained the residents by performing card tricks. Everyone loved the card tricks, said U.S. Navy OSC David McAlister. “Community relations projects like this are important. They give us the opportunity to get out and interact with local people.”

ion Mission, RSN and U.S. sailors picked up brooms and dust cloths to clean up around the home, while others helped serve lunch to the residents. During the first part of the visit, the service members escorted the residents to a stage area where they entertained the residents with card tricks and songs. “The fact that we got the chance to do a community relations project alongside the Singapore sailors, working together, is really what CARAT is all about,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Dan Drake.

When the visit ended and the sailors prepared to return to their respective ships, B. P. Yap, the Mission’s president, summed up the efforts of the two navies. “Through service to others, we cut away the mistrust. When we serve the less fortunate, we’re not just thinking of ourselves, and that’s good for everyone,” he said. “Human beings are many, but our breath is one. Nations are many, but the world is one.”