The Singapore-hosted Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) exercise Deep Sabre 2016 kicked off September 27 at the Changi Command and Control Centre.
This year’s exercise, which is held from 27 to 30 September, involves more than 800 personnel from 21 countries.
According to the Singaporean Ministry of Defense, exercise participants will take part in a series of shore and sea activities designed to promote capacity building among participating countries.
This includes a table-top policy simulation involving representatives from border control, customs, defence, foreign affairs, legal and military agencies on key counter-proliferation policy dilemmas; a simulated maritime interdiction of a merchant vessel suspected of carrying illegal WMD-related materials.
The programme also includes a port search demonstration on a shipping container suspected of containing WMD-related materials led by Singapore Customs, together with the Singapore Armed Forces Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives (CBRE) Defence Group and Singapore Civil Defence Force.
PSI is a multinational initiative launched in 2003 to encourage international cooperation to stop the proliferation of WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials. To date, 105 countries around the world have endorsed the PSI. Exercise Deep Sabre 2016 is held under the PSI Asia-Pacific exercise rotation series. This is the third time Singapore is hosting a PSI exercise.