The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has projected its combat and combat support elements to Queensland, Australia, ahead of its biggest and most complex unilateral war games conducted Down Under.
Six Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) F-16s - the air force's most numerous fighter type - arrived in Rockhampton Airport yesterday, adding to RSAF war machines already deployed there. Two single-seat F-16Cs and four twin-seat F-16Ds touched down in the normally quiet airport in the Queensland outback, watched eagerly by Australians aviation enthusiasts who waited three years for Singapore's F-16C/Ds to reappear there.
A blog post on the CQ Plane Spotting site (please click here) recorded 140 SQN's arrival in Rocky:"The flight of six fighter jets - of 140 Squadron of the RSAF - all touched down in quick succession following their flight from RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory. They were heard to be using one radio callsign of 'Singa 3311'.
"Local plane spotters Travis W and Kayanne H were one of many plane spotters and other members of the general public who made it (to) Rockhampton Airport to enjoy the fantastic spectacle of the six jets flying around Rockhampton before eventually landing on Runway 15 and taxiing to their parking spot on the military hardstand on the Northern end of the Rockhampton Airport apron."
Long-range force projection
In recent weeks, Australian plane spotters have noted successive waves of civilian airliners (among them: Air New Zealand, Qantas and Singapore Airlines) landing at Rockhampton Airport as the troop build-up gathers momentum.
These arrivals appear to be paced to a timetable that allows the SAF to execute long-range force projection with units arriving in a size and particular sequence in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA). The Australian Defence Force training ground is about two hours drive from Rockhampton Airport.
The exercise area, which is about four times the size of Singapore, sets the stage for the SAF to plan, deploy, manoeuvre and review the large-scale movement of Manoeuvre Forces. This is done in concert with RSAF strike aircraft, UAVs and combat helicopters, across vast distances, day and night, with targets engaged using live munitions of all calibres and bomb tonnage, in various operational settings over unfamiliar terrain.
As the SAF builds up its defence manpower some 5,750km from Singapore, RSAF air power was also projected at long-range - again apparently timed to a schedule that allows Team RSAF to raise its flying and flying support elements rapidly in-theatre.
Such coordination, thought to be made possible by RSAF Air Operations Department as the lead element, is said to be a complex long-range force projection exercise in itself. This is because moving RSAF heavy hitters - like warplanes, their ground support crew and assorted armament - safely to SWBTA involves close teamwork between the RSAF and civilian agencies in Singapore and abroad.
The work entails arranging for and obtaining flight clearances across three countries, over long distances that may involve crew rest and refuelling stopovers and working with multiple civilian entities for air charters. All this takes place with staff officers working behind the scenes long before Exercise Wallaby's first Frame gets started.
As of today, plane spotters have observed two RSAF Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, five AH-64D Apache attack helicopters and five Super Puma/Cougar medium-lift helicopters at Rockhampton. The six F-16C/Ds added the fast jet element to the RSAF presence in Rockhampton.
We will continue monitoring developments in and around SWBTA in the coming weeks.