When it comes to moving warfighters across continents, Malaysia Boleh*!
Airliners from Malaysia's national carrier, Malaysia Airlines (MAS), airlifted the first wave of Singaporean troops to Rockhampton Airport on Saturday evening, ahead of Singapore's biggest unilateral war games in Australia, codenamed Exercise Wallaby.
Australian plane spotters observed two MAS Airbus A330-300 arrivals in Rockhampton (ROK) on Saturday night. These were 9M-MKA and 9M-MKJ, flown as flights MAS8726 and MAS8761 respectively. The airliners took off from Changi International Airport (SIN) on Saturday afternoon loaded with Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel. Please click here for their report and more pictures on the Central Queensland Planespotting site.
The commercial charter means that Malaysian pilots and flight attendants were among the first to get wind of the massive trooplift Down Under - before Singaporeans were informed of the upcoming military manoeuvres.
To those familiar with SAF doctrine, the use of Malaysian airliners to kick start the troop buildup for Exercise Wallaby would probably cause some chuckles, bearing in mind the simulated scenarios that will be fought across the Australian outback during the long, hot summer.
Perhaps there's no stronger signal of a warming of bilateral ties that having MAS deliver the SAF for one of the biggest live-fire exercises on its annual calendar?
The SAF troop strength in the Australian state of Queensland will be built up in coming weeks as the 1st Frame of Exercise Wallaby gets underway. The war game is an umbrella term for several component exercises staged under that name in Australia's Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA).
Six Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Super Puma have been observed on the ROK flightline and more RSAF helicopters are understood to be en route.
This week, Apache attack helicopters from 120 Squadron are expected to land in ROK, flown in partially disassembled aboard Antonov heavy lift transports.
Stay tuned for more reports. If you know of friends leaving soon for Wallaby 2012, please write in!
* Boleh is the Malay word for "can do".
Acknowledgements:
Deepest appreciation to the nocturnal plane spotters in Rocky. The year has flown by (bad pun) with astonishing speed and it's SAF war game season again Down Under.
the cheapest rate offer by mas??
ReplyDeleteI'm not even surprise if next time they use Garuda
ReplyDeleteAiyoh, you did not hear the latest - Singapore is back to Malaysia already leow....
ReplyDeleteHow? Tiger Air?
ReplyDeleteI have taken EVA Air and Brunei Airlines to and from ROK before.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteApologies for getting off-topic.
Do you know when was the last time that RMAF fighters deployed to Paya Lebar and the last time RSAF fighter deployed to Butterworth for FPDA exercises? I know of RSAF F-5s and A-4s deploying to Butterworth in the past but have any F-16s ever flown there?
I do recall Singapore Pumas making a rest and refuelling stop at Kuching some years back, on their way to Brunei. Thank you.
its part of the war plan exercise, where we "take over" and make use of enemy asset to work for us.
ReplyDeletesun tzu says, live off your enemy feed off your enemy, sleep with their air hostess.
What is wrong with using MAS? Lowest tender wins.
ReplyDeleteRumour has it our PM will be dropping in!
ReplyDeleteEVA Air is good. Food is excellent, air craft is new, service is attentive and warm.
ReplyDeleteWhen they cannont get EVA because of timing, they would fly China Airlines to ROC, which is B-A-D.
The guy who commented this when we were talking about Jack Neo's movie must be very angry. But what can he do except suck thumb and sulk? :D
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the movie will be more exciting but do bear in mind is all the suggested resources avaliable? Even if it is, are these classified equipment or operating proccedure? There is always never enough excitment in a war movie and audience keep on asking for more. However MINDEF always need to weigh a balance how much can be released to the public. Showing a 3G army unit fighting on a urban terrrain is a great leap forward for Singaporeans which was never shown or rather imagine before.
Equipment, proccedure & communication are part of military secrets. Why not try taking photos or videos of military equipment inside army installations since these are not secrets?
The guy who commented this when we were talking about Jack Neo's movie must be very angry. But what can he do except suck thumb and sulk? :D
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the movie will be more exciting but do bear in mind is all the suggested resources avaliable? Even if it is, are these classified equipment or operating proccedure? There is always never enough excitment in a war movie and audience keep on asking for more. However MINDEF always need to weigh a balance how much can be released to the public. Showing a 3G army unit fighting on a urban terrrain is a great leap forward for Singaporeans which was never shown or rather imagine before.
Equipment, proccedure & communication are part of military secrets. Why not try taking photos or videos of military equipment inside army installations since these are not secrets?