Circuit breaker Day 55 pix: Republic of Singapore Air Force RSAF Warbirds

This decommissioned Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) RF-5S Tigereye photo reconnaissance fighter with its modified nose all masked up is at the Air Force School in Paya Lebar Air Base.

The RF-5 is part of the collection of retired RSAF planes kept in a special hangar opposite the Air Force Museum.

While long-term storage and maintenance need to be budgeted for, keeping examples of old war machines strengthens the sense of unit esprit and team spirit by connecting future generations with their shared past. Such sentiments are priceless.

A line up of RSAF A-4 Skyhawks in showroom condition.

RF-5S with a SIAI Marchetti S.211. We're at a loss to explain why the Tigereye's nose has been shrouded. Perhaps to protect the glass panels on the nose?

S.211 and a rotorless Aerospatiale Ecureuil

Circuit breaker Day 54 pix: Singapore Army anti-tank jeeps

Don't you miss the time when the Singapore Army's Army Open House (AOH) used to allow visitors to watch a live-firing component at Pasir Laba?

And if you're old enough, you might even remember the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) displays at West Coast Park which had a mock attack involving army, navy and air force assets as the grand finale.

Now with this COVID-19 pandemic and safe distancing, we're not sure when we will even see the next SAF exhibition at a shopping mall.

Today's selection of images shows you the Army's battalion-level anti-team weapons that were used before the Spike anti-tank guided missile (ATGM).

The first two images show the Euromissile MILAN jeep, which replaced the 106mm recoilless rifle jeeps which were mounted on two platforms. The MILAN demo took place at the Army Open House 2007 (which was held in the same week that full-time National Serviceman Dave Teo ran away from camp with his SAR-21 assault rifle and bullets, but we digress).

The German-built Mercedes-Benz MB240 (above) replaced the older US-made jeep that was introduced in the late 1960s. The MB240 in this picture was displayed at AOH 2007. The 106 gun crew below served with 4 SIR in the early-1980s.

Circuit breaker Day 53 pix: Guide to Paya Lebar Air Base air activities

If you're working from home near a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) air base, chances are you would have noticed the high level of air activities on weekdays.

And if you're an eastie living near Paya Lebar Air Base (PLAB) and you're looking at this post in daylight (caveat: Mon to Sat except Thurs, some flying on Sundays during RSAF/FPDA exercises), there's a good chance that you can hear RSAF aircraft flying overhead as you read this.

The three F-15SG Strike Eagles in the top image are among nine such fighter jets that have been observed taking off and returning to Paya Lebar together. The nine F-15s are probably practising for the National Day 2020 flypast.

Here's a visual guide to RSAF planes and helicopters that folks living around PLAB see regularly.

Our thanks to our reader who's stuck at home every day with these flying machines flashing past his window. Every shot posted here was taken by him from the comfort of his living room. All social distancing regulations were strictly observed. He shared them in near real-time with our private chat group, so what you see here is the same as what we usually see on our chat group.

This 149 Squadron F-15SG Strike Eagle is one of PLAB's residents. When F-15s are airborne, you'll hear them soon enough. Noteworthy are the sunset patrol sorties that takeoff around sundown and return about an hour to 1.5 hours later. This one is wheels-up for a go-around.

The 122 Squadron C-130 Hercules is a familiar sight to people living around PLAB. We love watching the pod-equipped "KC-130s" lift off early in the morning around 7AM+ before they head east towards Pedra Branca and the South China Sea. The drone from the Charlies as they climb to their training altitude can be heard all the way from Marine Parade to Hougang. Their sorties last several hours. It's a mystery why the Hercules transports continue to carry two "hose-and-drogue air-to-air refuelling pods" as none of the RSAF fighters are refuelled this way and the pods may be deadweight. Blade antenna configurations vary.

A regular visitor is the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport from 112 SQN. Big and powerful, the MRTT is much quieter than she looks.

Occasional visitors to PLAB include 121 Squadron Fokker 50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft, still looking immaculate after many years in service.  

A non-resident fighter type is the F-16 Fighting Falcon. When Tengah Air Base had her runway resurfaced, large numbers of F-16s were seen using PLAB as their temporary home. 

Super Puma medium-lift helicopters (above), Apache attack helicopters, Chinook heavy-lifters and Seahawk naval helicopters have been spotted at PLAB. The wokka-wokka throb of the Chinook's rotors is fairly distinctive and usually heralds the big chopper's approach before you spot it.   

 AH-64D Apache from 120 SQN

CH-47 Chinook from 127 SQN

Circuit breaker Day 52 pix: Singapore Armed Forces SAF assets during operations

Source: RSAF Facebook (both images)

Notice something different about these Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Super Pumas apart from the all-white United Nations livery? Yes, their Turbomeca Makila turboshafts have had exhaust diluters added to protect the helicopters from heat-seeking missiles.

You hardly ever see RSAF Super Ps flying around Singapore with these devices in peacetime.

But lo and behold, when the RSAF sent four Super Pumas on a UN operation in Cambodia in May 1993, the helicopters left Sembawang Air Base with the black exhaust shrouds attached. They are designed to dilute and direct hot efflux from the engines upwards where the rotor blades and forward movement of the helicopter would further disperse the hot exhaust.

Many Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) assets are fitted-for-but-not-with devices that appear only during operations.

The pictures below, taken at a public exhibition, show Singapore Army vehicles deployed for operations in Afghanistan. The bits and pieces added here and there should give the discerning eye some idea of the Army's efforts to protect its people during real ops.

We are willing to bet that SAF vehicles that will appear at the National Day Parade 2020 Mobile Column will be nice, clean and "naked". In other words, without the add-ons and interesting gear.

To recycle an old joke, if you see RSAF Super Ps flying over Singapore with exhaust diluters, MID vehicles with lumps and bumps attached and the Navy's LSTs fully loaded with FCEPs and the pontoons, it's time to clear the junk from your bomb shelter and stock up on toilet rolls!

You may also like:
Republic of Singapore Navy Endurance-class LSTs. Please click here

RSN Floating Bridge System self-propelled pontoons. Please click here

Circuit breaker Day 51 pix: Self Study Topic Malacca Strait Collision Case Study

A number of interesting foreign warships drop by at Sembawang Wharves, in the north of Singapore, every year.

These pictures of the United States Navy destroyer, USS Ingersoll (DD-990), were taken in June 1992 from the flight deck of HMS Invincible.

The Ingersoll collided with an oil tanker, M/V Matsumi Maru No. 7, in Strait of Malacca at night while on route to Singapore. The Ingersoll's OOD apparently misread the tanker's running lights which were swamped by the deck lighting and flood lights which were switched on to deter pirates.

USS Ingersoll Collision Case Study
The destroyer survived the collision and returned to operational service. She was decommissioned in July 1998.

If you have time to spare, there's a useful case study on the Federation of American Scientists site on the incident. Please click here for your self study slides.

If you've been on a warship in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, you'll realise that the bridge crew gives their all during the transit because of the high level of traffic in these sea lanes.

Even with ships observing the Traffic Separation Scheme while sailing in the SOMS, ships must watch out for vessels moving across the sea lanes as not everyone observes the rules of the road. And when Sumatras hit, these tropical thunderstorms can cut visibility pretty quickly with intense wind, rain and lightning.

Radar and optronics help with safe navigation. But nothing beats alert watchstanders, an on-the-ball OOW who thinks several steps ahead and a responsive helm.

We have the highest regard for mariners who work in such an environment day after day. There's nothing routine about sailing in crowded waterways.

Circuit breaker Day 50 pix: Simulated enemy vehicle

Here's a Singapore Army Land Rover Defender pretending it's fiercer and deadlier than it actually is.

The Land Rover carries a frame that changes its profile to that of a tracked vehicle with a "turret". Doesn't look like anything we've seen in AFV recognition books.

Such vehicles inject realism to the Army's two-sided encounters, especially when the Land Rover is "armed" with a tactical engagement system that allows it to return fire. Approach with care during a FTX!

26 May 2020 edit: The first image is more than 10 years old. The Singapore Army's Army Training Evaluation Centre (ATEC) has evolved quite abit since then. In April 2019, ATEC crossed a significant milestone after it evaluated its 300th unit. Here's a more recent 2019 image of ATEC OPFOR. Pioneer feature story, High Combat Readiness. Click here

Source: PIONEER magazine

On a side note: We're now into the 50th day of the circuit breaker! Looks like CB measures will be lifted in phases but the life we all knew in 2019 won't come back anytime soon.

Focus on the positives and take things one step at a time.

Circuit breaker Day 49 pix: Republic of Singapore Navy RSN Missile Corvette

Before the Internet made open source information so accessible, defence enthusiasts commonly amassed a collection of brochures from defence companies to keep updated with weapons technology. Space intensive? Yes. But worth the effort.

This brochure from German shipbuilder, Lürssen, was distributed in the early 1990s at the Defence Services Asia show in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has nice line drawings of the Republic of Singapore Navy Missile Corvette, RSS Victory.

Can you spot something special on Victory's superstructure, just under the bridge? 

Hope the MCVs appear at the National Day 2020 sailpast fully fitted out. Those tubes are old anyway and quite widely known.

Circuit breaker Day 48 pix: Singapore Army Trailblazer counter-mine vehicle

If there was one role the Singapore Army could hand over to unmanned assets, it's mine-clearing.

As far as dull, dirty and dangerous jobs go, clearing a minefield while driving over it with a mine flail isn't for the faint of heart.

The Trailblazer counter-mine vehicle (above) is designed and made in Singapore. The vehicle is based on the Bionix chassis and drives backwards while spinning a drum of weighted chains to flog the ground.

In theory, the force of the weighted chains (i.e. the flail) hitting the ground should trigger off land mines while the combat engineers remain safe in their armoured cabin.

Any volunteers for this job?

Circuit breaker Day 47 pix: Singapore Army Add-on Armour 5 tonner

You've soft skin B-vehicles then the armoured MRAPs. In between comes the Add-on Armour (AOA) tonners. These rarely seen vehicles are used by the Guards Formation.

Run flat tyres, self-sealing fuel tanks, ballistic glass and armour plate for vulnerable areas protect the driver's cabin and troops seated in the back from small arms fire and shell fragments. Gun ports allow troops inside to return fire.

Circuit breaker Day 46 pix: Republic of Singapore Air Force RSAF E-2 Hawkeye

The Last: During Exercise Torrent VI on 30 November 2008, E-2C 014 from 111 Squadron was the aircraft to land on Lim Chu Kang Road during the air force emergency runway exercise. This particular E-2C also became the last one to ever land on a road in Singapore. Pictures below show 014 during the rehearsal the day before.

A Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Grumman E-2C Hawkeye from 111 Squadron took part in an emergency runway exercise, codenamed Torrent, for the last time in November 2008.

Hawkeye 014 is seen here during the rehearsal the day before the actual exercise emerging from Tengah Air Base (top photo). At full stretch, the airborne early warning aircraft's 24.56m (80' 7") wingspan stretches just past the width of Lim Chu Kang Road.

Among the challenges was getting the E-2C out of the air base as Tengah's gates were not wide enough for the plane to taxi out. So the aircraft, which was designed to be operated from aircraft carriers, tucked in her wings and simply taxiied out of the base on its own - which is a feature 111 SQN's Gulfstream G550 AEW do not have.

Here's E-2C 014 stretching her wings on a public road in a sight never to be seen again in Singapore.

Circuit breaker Day 45 pix: Singapore Aviation Art

BAC Strikemaster jet trainers operated from Changi Air Base in 1975, which was the year the Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC) was renamed the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).

Miss flying?

Here are some postcards from BAE Systems that capture Singapore's aviation history. The postcards were distributed as part of BAE System's campaign to sell the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter jet to Singapore.

Singapore used the British-built Hawker Hunter Mk.74S fighter/ground-attack aircraft for over 20 years from 1970. This year marks the 50th year of RSAF fighter operations. 

BAC Lightnings of Royal Air Force No. 74(F) "Tiger Squadron" operated from Tengah between 1967 and 1971.

Eurofighter Typhoon over Singapore.

Red Arrows over Changi during the Asian Aerospace air show in 1996. The Reds were then led by Squadron Leader John Rands.

Singapore Airlines acquired the Airbus A300B4-203 in 1981- the same year that Paya Lebar became an RSAF air base.

National Day Parade NDP 2020: Together a Stronger Singapore

Reports that the Mobile Column will be part of the National Day Parade (NDP) 2020 caught us by surprise as it's been a decades since the Mobile Column appeared back-to-back in successive National Day celebrations.

The Mobile Column was seen last year at the parade at the Padang to mark Singapore's 54th year of independence and its bicentennial. The moving display of Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) war machines and Home Team vehicles usually appears every fifth year, which made the NDP 2019 Mobile Column an off-cycle event.

Also of interest is the mention of a Maritime Sailpast. The National Day Carnival at Marine Parade in 1986 had Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) warships anchored off the Bedok Jetty (see pix below).  But there was no sail past. For more pictures, please click here

NDP 1990 which celebrated Singapore's 25th year of independence had a Sea Review. So did NDP 2000 at the turn of the century (below). For more pictures, please click here

Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) ships lay at anchor off the National Day Carnival at Marina South in 2005. The Navy also demonstrated its maritime counter terrorism capabilities using RHIBs and M/V Kendrick, which was a submarine rescue support vessel that supported the RSN.

We eagerly await the line up of Republic of Singapore Navy ships that will be part of the sailpast. Likely debutants include Formidable-class stealth frigates and Independence-class Littoral Mission Vessels and an Archer-class submarine. As this is possibly the last such outing for the Missile Corvettes, we hope they will be shown with all the additional stuff attached. Same goes for the Endurance-class tank landing ships, which we would love to see fully loaded with FCEPs like this. Click here (LSTs) and here (Floating Bridge System) for more:

We're not sure how the NDP EXCO, which is helmed by the Singapore Army's 3rd Singapore Division, will keep people away from the rehearsals, which are proven crowd magnets. Best of luck then. We look forward to a safe and memorable show.

Circuit breaker Day 44 pix: Republic of Singapore Navy RSN Armoured Fast Craft Utility

At the Navy Open House in 2013, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) displayed an armoured Fast Craft Utility (FCU) waterjet propelled landing craft for the first time. The occasion is believed to be the only time such a craft was shown to the public.

The FCU was modified with the addition of an armoured crew compartment which was surrounded by spaced, bar armour grilles to protect the crew within from shaped charge munitions like RPGs. The open bridge, which previously had the coxswain standing/seated behind the control console under a tarpaulin sheet, was also up-armoured.

The armoured landing craft can be used to carry RSN personnel to inspect ships at sea and apprehend law breakers should the need arise. The procedure is called Visit, Board, Search & Seizure. It is fraught with difficulties when carried out on a restless sea and when the freeboard of tankers means VBSS teams need to climb a rope ladder 10 storeys high to board the vessel.

 Note the additional panels, believed to be composite armour, around the open bridge.