SUNGAI BULOH, June 13-The Malaysian Army (TDM) and the United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) have conducted the Keris Strike Exercise Series 27/2022 to strengthen bilateral relations and military cooperation between the two countries.

The headquarters of the 11th Malaysian Infantry Brigade (11 Bde) through a post on its social media said, the exercise which began from 6 to 17 June 2022 was also aimed at strengthening the interoperability between TDM and USARPAC in a complex environment.

“Other than that, it is to integrate TDM and USARPAC’s military deployment planning at the operational and tactical levels as well as to increase TDM and USARPAC’s multi-domain operational knowledge through the Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE),” explained 11 Bde.

The bilateral exercise between TDM organised by the 11 Brigade with USARPAC involved a total of 958 officers and members from both services.

The opening ceremony was officiated by COL Michael A. Van Welie, 25th ID Deputy Commander-Interoperability of USARPAC and accompanied by 11 Bde Commander, Brigadier General Fazal Abdul Rahman on Saturday.

According to him, the conduct of this exercise coincides with the second item that supports the slogan ‘Alert & Skilled’ in the 11 Brigade Commander’s Supreme Command, which is the emphasis on comprehensive and realistic training to enhance the competencies and skills of 11 Brigade personnel.

“It is also in line with the Fourth Pillar of the 28th Commander-in-Chief of the Army, which is the Strengthening of Defence Relations, which emphasizes on defence cooperation with regional and international national and international armies,” he added.