It was a fruitful exercise for all participants at Exercise Malapura 2012, an annual bilateral maritime exercise conducted between the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).

Held from 27 Feb to 6 Mar, this year's exercise was hosted by the RSN. The RMN participated with frigate KD Jebat and two new-generation patrol vessels, KD Terengganu and KD Selangor, while the RSN participated with frigate RSS Formidable, missile corvette RSS Valour and patrol vessel RSS Brave.
This year also saw the inaugural participation of the RSN's naval helicopters, the S-70B Seahawks, which increased the tactical complexity of the exercise.
Over the two weeks, the strong ties between the Singapore and Malaysian navies were renewed.
The exercise involved a wide range of activities. Ashore, both navies participated in combined tactical and fire-fighting damage control exercises, and shared experiences about operations in the Gulf of Aden. At sea, the ships and helicopters participated in four days of conventional warfare and maritime interdiction serials, including gunnery shoots as well as air defence and boarding serials.
Servicemen from both navies also had many opportunities to strengthen mutual friendships and build new ones through activities such as the Malapura Cup sports competition, cocktails and the exchange of personnel out at sea.