Comments on Singapore Armed Forces SAF training incident at Exercise Wallaby 2024

 

Some initial thoughts on the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) training incident at Exercise Wallaby in Queensland which injured 12 servicemen:

1. This is the first known incident involving the Singapore-made Hunter armoured fighting vehicle taking part in Exercise Wallaby in Queensland, Australia

2. Hunters have special seats and body restraints designed to minimise injury to passengers in the event of landmine blasts or should the vehicle overturn.

3. Furthermore, Singapore Army standard procedure is thought to call for Hunter passengers to be belted up and for helmets or bump caps to be worn when onboard the vehicle.

4. Unlike the earlier generation of Bionix infantry fighting vehicles or M-113 Ultra armoured personnel carriers, armoured infantry on Hunters typically fight closed hatch. This means the passengers remain inside the vehicle with all hatches closed, and are typically belted up as mentioned above.

5. Closed hatch operations rely on the Hunter's all-round surveillance system, which comprises a suite of cameras placed around the vehicle that can see in daylight or at night.

6. However, the hot and dry conditions in Queensland as Australia approaches summer is known to give rise to brown-out situations when vehicles moving in column kick up large amounts of dust.

7. It will be instructive to know how fast the Hunters were moving, relative to one another prior to and at the point of contact.

8. This incident, presumably in clear weather (i.e. no rain) albeit dusty conditions, with no external combat stress factors such as enemy fire, will produce learning moments for the concept of operations (CONOPS) for closed hatch AFV operations and standard procedures for the embarkation of armoured infantry aboard Hunter AFVs.

The extent to which the build up, if any, of dust or other particulate matter could have affected the effectiveness of the Hunter camera suite or periscopes for crew situational awareness is not to be underestimated. This is a point which the inquiry would uncover.

9. I have full confidence in MINDEF and SAF leadership in handling this matter.

The SAF is a learning organisation. I am confident the right lessons will be gleaned from this incident and wish the injured servicemen a speedy recovery.

10. For full disclosure, I attended Exercise Wallaby as a journalist years ago during the trial of the then-new Bionix 2 IFVs and was embedded with 42 SAR. Great unit.

File photo of a Hunter armoured fighting vehicle. This is NOT the same vehicle involved in the incident mentioned.

For more:

https://www.mindef.gov.sg/news-and-events/latest-releases/24sep24_nr2

THANKS AGAIN! Pukul Habis book talk

I had a great time yesterday at Singapore's first Military Hobby Fest where I shared how I wrote my first novel, Pukul Habis. I also revealed - for the first time to a public audience - how Easter eggs were embedded in the story as a salute to some defence matters that cannot be talked about openly.

If you were there, I hope this talk gave you a better understanding of why the battle scenes unfolded the way they did.

Yesterday's event was my second book talk. Big thanks to all who made time to support the event. Being a first time fiction author, I have found that I enjoy hearing readers share their views and what the book meant to them. I was also quite humbled to have contributed to Singapore's reading scene as a number of you shared that Pukul Habis was the first story book you had read in quite awhile  :-)

I thank SAFRA and all the volunteers who worked tirelessly over the past year to plan, organise and execute the event. I felt it had a good mix of military nuts, from the twin lawyers who paint warplanes and airliners, to the amateur film producers who make films on the SAF and Home Team, to the members of defence-related special interest groups on Facebook. I was pleased to meet you all.

And while visiting Books Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City on Sunday evening, I was reminded how surreal it was seeing Pukul Habis on the Bestsellers shelf alongside established authors like the late Tom Clancy, John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer. 

The first print run of Pukul Habis was sold out in Singapore and Malaysia months ago. Back in 2023, the debut novel made it to the bestsellers listing in Singapore's Sunday Times for several weeks. 

I have reprinted a small number of copies with the intention of passing some to Tun (Dr) Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Lieutenant-General Winston Choo, former Chief of Defence Force of the Singapore Armed Forces. The story of an unthinkable war made such an impact on these prominent readers that both had agreed to write Forewords and this made a second edition a natural outcome. I passed the balance to Books Kinokuniya and once they're out, they're out. I have some copies for bulk buys with 20 books per box. Do email met at projectrocky@gmail.com if keen.

Pukul Habis book talk 3pm, 7 Sep 2024 Military Hobby Fest SAFRA Toa Payoh in Singapore

Dear All,
I will attend Singapore's first Military Hobby Fest at SAFRA Toa Payoh this Saturday. Will give a behind-the-scenes talk on Pukul Habis at 3pm and will address some of the hidden messages for the very first and possibly only time in front of a public audience. Happy to take questions if you've any. 

David