Digital and Intelligence Service Concludes Participation in Multinational Exercise Locked Shields 2026

The Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) participated in Exercise Locked Shields (XLS) 2026, an annual multinational live-fire cyber defence exercise conducted by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). This year's exercise, held from 20 to 24 Apr 2026 saw the participation of more than 4,000 cyber defenders from 41 nations.

The DIS's Defence Cyber Command co-led a combined cyber defence team alongside its Latvian National Guard Cyber Defence Unit (NGCDU) counterparts. DIS and MINDEF participants included Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen), and were joined by personnel from the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and DSO Laboratories. For the first time, the team also included Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) agency partners from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). XLS 2026 provided participants with realistic scenarios to practise the protection of national IT/OT systems and critical infrastructure under a severe cyberattack, and crisis management responses following such an attack.

Military Expert 6 Joel Fong, Joint Blue Team Lead from the DIS said, "We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in XLS with the Latvian NGCDU, to exchange perspectives, technical know-how and strengthen collaboration processes. XLS also allowed us to hone our cyber defenders' skillsets, including our interagency interoperability with other national agencies. In an ever-evolving threat landscape, realistic exercises such as this ensures that our cyber defenders remain operationally ready to defend our digital backbone."

Major Ronalds Mandelis, Commander of the NGCDU said, "I would like to express my gratitude to the Digital and Intelligence Service for the opportunity to jointly form the 2026 Locked Shields team. This experience has provided us with new knowledge and professional growth, which we highly value."

The DIS's participation in XLS highlights the importance of cross-agency collaboration to defend critical information infrastructure. The DIS's cooperation with the Latvian NGCDU in this exercise underscores the warm and growing bilateral defence relations between Singapore and Latvia.