Threats to underwater infrastructure and the expanding role of uncrewed systems in defense strategies took center stage at the 23rd Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) Defence Chiefs’ Conference in Singapore in late May 2025. Military leaders from the FPDA’s member states — Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom — reaffirmed their collective commitment to regional stability amid a complex security landscape.
Chaired by Singapore Chief of Defence Force Vice Adm. Aaron Beng, the conference underscored the group’s enduring relevance in promoting peace and security across the Indo-Pacific.
“The FPDA is one of the longest-standing regional security groupings in this region, having been established in 1971,” Beng said at a news conference. “We evolve and progress as a regional security grouping at a pace comfortable to all and ensure that we meet evolving security needs.”
Leaders highlighted the need for enhanced capabilities and coordination in protecting underwater infrastructure such as communication cables, and oil and gas pipelines. Ships linked to China and Russia are suspected of sabotaging undersea cables, which carry more than 95% of the world’s data traffic, raising concern and prompting countermeasures from the Baltic Sea to the Taiwan Strait. In recent months, the 32-member NATO security alliance has increased deployment of maritime patrol aircraft, frigates and naval drones in the Baltic.
“In Europe, this is a topic that’s getting a lot of interest,” said Adm. Tony Radakin, the U.K.’s chief of defense staff, according to Singapore broadcaster Channel News Asia. “And so we’ve been able to just share some of that knowledge and how we’re tackling that particular threat from a European perspective of how much of that might apply in the region.”
Defense officials agreed that upcoming FPDA exercises, including Bersama Lima 2025 in September, will integrate next-generation technologies to address nontraditional threats. Participation by Royal Australian Air Force F-35 fighter jets and the U.K.’s Carrier Strike Group, featuring the Royal Navy flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, will boost operational readiness.
The conference also highlighted the FPDA’s evolving posture toward cyber and hybrid threats, especially those linked to state-sponsored operations targeting infrastructure. Singapore’s Digital and Intelligence Service, established in 2022, is central to countering such challenges. Singapore also has expanded its maritime surveillance with countermeasure systems, including autonomous underwater vehicles and uncrewed surface vessels.
“As FPDA has always done in the past, we will continue to look at emerging threats, the capabilities that all the nations have, the concerns that all the nations have and evolve our activities to meet the needs,” Beng said, according to The Straits Times newspaper.
Thomas Lim, a senior analyst at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, emphasized the FPDA’s adaptability to a changing threat landscape. “The FPDA adopts an approach in terms of countries coming together to learn from each other’s best practices on how to address emerging security threats,” Lim told FORUM.
While not a mutual defense pact, the FPDA is a strategic mechanism for cooperation, Lim said. Its consultative structure allows flexibility while reinforcing interoperability across domains, including cyber, undersea and uncrewed warfare.
Singapore’s role in the FPDA continues to grow, with the Singapore Armed Forces demonstrating its commitment to interoperability through regular participation in FPDA exercises and bilateral agreements, particularly with Australia.
“Expanded defense collaboration allows countries to present a unified stance against potential threats,” Lim noted.
