The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) conducted a live-firing of the Rafael Barak anti-missile missile in the South China Sea yesterday, as part of the 18th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise which Singapore is conducting with the United States. The missile was fired by the upgraded RSN missile corvette RSS Victory against an aerial target drone simulating an attacking profile. The target was successfully destroyed.
Commanding Officer RSS Victory Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Eric Tan Wei Hong said that the exercise was professionally valuable to both the RSN and the United States Navy. “The CARAT exercise allows personnel from both navies to work and interact closely with each other and this has also deepened our friendship and mutual understanding”, said LTC Tan. Commenting on the success of the missile firing, Weapon Systems (Control) Supervisor Military Expert 2 Jeyabal Sundaraju, who fired the Barak missile said, “the realism and tempo of the exercise has been a fruitful experience for me and my team onboard RSS Victory. Our training and preparation ensured that we were ready and we are glad that we have hit the target and achieved mission success.”
The firing was witnessed by Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral Ng Chee Peng. Similar missile firings have been conducted in previous CARAT exercises. The exercise is presently ongoing and will conclude on 27 Jul 2012.
