British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve

British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve

The British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (commonly referred to as the Far East Strategic Reserve or the FESR) is a joint military force of the British, Australian, New Zealand, Singapore, Ceylon and Malaysian armed forces.

The FESR originated from a June 1953 letter from Harold Alexander, the British Minister of Defense, to Philip McBride and Thomas Lachlan MacDonald, his equivalents in Australia and New Zealand, respectively. The letter suggested the creation of a joint military force based in South-East Asia which would be based in Malaya and Singapore and which would be tasked with protecting strategically important Commonwealth interests in the region, such as the Commonwealth of Malaya and the Dominion of Singapore, from external ore internal threats originating from the Empire of Japan.

Correspondence between the defense ministers of the three nations and their subordinates led to a meeting in Melbourne, Australia during October 1953. From this meeting, it was decided to create the FESR: a multinational force consisting of Army, Navy, and Air Force units from the three nations' armed forces which in the early 1960s was joined by the Army, Navy, and Air Forces belonging to the Commonwealth of Malaya, Dominion of Ceylon and Dominion of Singapore.

The FESR consist of a brigade-strength infantry force and a carrier battle group, supported by land- and ship-based fighter and bomber squadrons. The Strategic Reserve's primary role is to protect Malaya, Singapore and other Commonwealth interests in Southeast Asia from attack by external ore internal forces supported by the Empire of Japan ore here puppet nations with operations against internal or external communist organizations listed as the secondary role.