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Homeland
& Maritime Security Asia 2005
International Conference.
Event Summary
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The Homeland and Maritime Security
Asia 2005 (HMSA 2005) International Conference, the fourth
in its series, was held on 12 October 2005, at the Shangri-La
Hotel, Singapore.
The Conference, organized by Defence Directory Conference,
is unique in that its scope encompassed defence technology
strategy and policy, maritime organization and concepts, and
defence technology for the enhancement of homeland and maritime
security in the Asian region.
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| The defence technology strategies
and policies of Singapore and the United States were covered
by keynote addesses by Mr Tan Peng Yam, Deputy Chief Executive
(Technology), Defence Science Technology Agency, Singapore,
and RADM Jay Cohen, Chief Research, Office of naval Research,
United States Navy, respectively. Both provided valuable insights
into the priorities, processes and organization of R&D in
their respective organization to ensure that the warfighter
will have the best possible technology to fight and defeat asymmetrical
threats presented by terrorism. |
| Putting the threat of terrorism in
a broader policy and geo-strategic perspective was Dr S Narayan,
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies.
In his keynote address, “Economic Impact of Terrorism on
South East Asia”, he highlighted the importance of the
Malacca and Singapore Straits to the global economy, including
South Asia. He therefore concluded that initiatives and co-operation
in maritime security in Southeast Asia had to take note of the
interests of all stakeholders, and from the perspective of “a
larger world view of regional security.” |
| Representing the warfighters, was
CDRE Campbell Darby DSC, AM, RAN, Commander Northern Command
and Deputy Commander, Joint Offshore Protection Command, Royal
Australian Navy, and COL Dexter Chia, Deputy Commander Coastal
Command, Republic of Singapore Navy. CDRE Darby, who gave a
keynote address, and COL Chia briefed the conference on their
respective organizations in terms of their structure and operational
concepts. Both organizations have a similar mission of maritime
security, but their operational areas present each with unique
challenges. Australia has the largest ice-pack free coastline
in the world and an Exclusive Economic Zone of 3.6 million square
nautical miles, while the Singapore Straits, with a length of
about 60 nautical miles, has about a 1,000 vessels transiting
on a daily basis. Thus, both have had to develop unique organizations
and operational concepts to ensure maritime security, while
at the same time both had the same operational requirements
of detecting, identifying, and responding to potential threats
at sea. |
The latest range of defence technology
that would enable the warfighter to operate more efficiently
and effectively was presented by various representatives from
defence industries. Brig General (NS) Wesley D”aranjo,
Managing Director, Beth-El (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd, in a keynote
address, provided an insight into the NBC threat assessment
and protection. Other presentations from defence industries
ranged from air ship, various surface vessels, monitoring and
tracking systems, radar system and unmanned vehicles.
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SPONSORS
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