Largest Singapore Armed Forces SAF mobilisation may have practised wider dimension of Singapore's defence readiness drawer plans

Soaring above and beyond the morning mist that shrouded Paya Lebar Air Base, Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) C-130 Hercules 732 had a pre-dawn flight to nowhere last Friday.

Personnel from the RSAF's 122 Squadron had a particularly early start that day, with the C-130H rotating a few hours before sunrise. A take-off at that unearthly hour means that the groundcrew had to be up and about even earlier, which translates to an overnighter for some of the squadron's personnel.

Once aloft, Hercules 732 traced seemingly aimless orbits over the sleeping island.

Nothing out of the ordinary with this flight or her underwing stores of a pair of external fuel tanks (inboard) and what appeared to be air-to-air refuelling pods (outboard).

But wait: The hose-and-drogue method for topping up thirsty RSAF warplanes is no longer used. The last RSAF warplanes plumbed for this AAR method were the F-5S/T Tiger IIs, which have since been retired.

And 732 was pictured at Rockhampton in September 2015 sans AAR pods. See below.

Photo: Courtesy of Central Queensland Planespotting

With gas prices the way they are, why bother flying with added deadweight? Who's probe-equipped jets are they meant to refuel? The Malaysians?

It would be interesting to ponder what prompted that early morning sortie on Friday, which was repeated on Saturday morning.

Perhaps by sheer coincidence, these were the days on which the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) conducted its largest mobilisation exercise since 1985. Some 8,000 soldiers and 700 vehicles were involved in the exercise, with publicity accorded to the mobilisation phase that took place under the command of the 9th Singapore Division/Headquarters Infantry at the historic Selarang Camp.

The SAF does not need to activate warm bodies to test its drawer plans. It is thought that various scenarios can be played out during computerised war games, with advanced algorithms working out how various courses of action from Blue and OPFOR could be played out during complex scenarios involving land, sea and air assets.

An FTX like the one we witnessed this past weekend, however, injects much more realism to game theory. This is because the interplay of many factors ranging from weather, traffic, unit esprit and the attitudes of individual National Servicemen could ultimately impact the Mobex response rate for units assessed.

One surmises that another dimension of the exercise could have involved the C-130 flights. Such RSAF aircraft are thought to be able to fly missions other than those that involve transporting troops or cargo.

It would be interesting indeed to find out what's in those AAR pods and why Hercules 732 was configured as such, orbiting the island in elliptical tracks with all that deadweight when most of Singapore was sleeping.

Is there more than meets the eye? Yes/No/Maybe.