High above a vast desert, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) F-15SG and F-16C/D fighter aircraft fought a tough aerial battle against physical "enemy" fighter jets. At the same time, they had to integrate a strike on static and moving enemy targets with the Army's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
This was the scenario played out at Exercise Forging Sabre 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, and witnessed by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen during his visit on 10 Dec.
The integrated strike exercise conducted by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from 2 to 17 Dec involved about 700 airmen and soldiers. And for the first time, Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) were involved.
The large scale exercise was the fourth instalment in the series and it marked the introduction of a thinking enemy with leadership and integrated strike capabilities.
The complex war game tested the SAF's air-land integration, which was orchestrated by a command post comprising personnel from the Air Force and Army. Six F-15SGs, six F-16 C/Ds, five AH-64D Attack Helicopters, two CH-47 Chinook helicopters and three HIMARS were deployed in all, in both day and night missions.
These shooter platforms were linked to the central command post by a network which included sensors such as ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and commando teams.
The command post played the crucial role of piecing together a comprehensive situational picture and using that to assign targets to the shooters effectively and efficiently. For example, the AH-64Ds were deployed to destroy an enemy armour column on the move with their anti-tank Hellfire missiles. And for fortified static targets such as the enemy headquarters, F-16C/Ds were sent to hit them with GBU-12 Laser Guided Bombs.
In the previous edition of the exercise held in 2011, the SAF fought against a simulated enemy, which offered limited resistance. Exercise troops only needed to concentrate on the live-firing component, ensuring that their precision weapons found their targets.
Overall Exercise Director and Commander Air Combat Command Brigadier-General (BG) Lim Tuang Liang said: "We have put together a dedicated Red Force command team which is responsible for challenging the Blue Force command post in many of the battle processes, enabling us to sense, to decide and to destroy the target in a very complex and highly challenging scenario."
Co-commanded by Head of Air Training Senior Lieutenant Colonel (SLTC) Ho Yung Peng and Head of Exercise Planning Group Colonel Andrew Lim, the Red Force adapted and reacted in real time to provide added realism to the training.
Said SLTC Ho: "We want to make sure that we train as we will fight in war. And as you know, in war you have a thinking enemy always adapting to the situation, never staying still for us to strike."
Another first for the exercise was the live firing of the HIMARS' Guided Multiple Launcher Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets - a precision artillery rocket guided by GPS. Other precision munitions fired in the exercise included the Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (LJDAM), JDAM, GBU-12 bomb, and the Hellfire missile.
Dr Ng noted the growth made by the SAF in the exercise series over the years: "I would say the progress is remarkable. The ability to pick up real-time, moving targets, track them, and... strike at them while they are moving is something very difficult to do militarily. It calls for a very high state of sense-making - the ability to know what is happening at that point of time."
As part of his visit, Dr Ng fired a practice rocket from a HIMARS and interacted with exercise participants as well as servicemen from the RSAF's Peace Carvin II F-16C/D detachment in US. He also viewed a static and aerial display of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the invitation of the United States Marine Corps.
Dr Ng was accompanied by Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Chief of Air Force Major-General Hoo Cher Mou and other senior MINDEF and SAF officers.
Commenting on the professionalism of the SAF personnel involved in the exercise, Dr Ng said: "There is not a single failure, and it speaks of the professionalism we have and years of continuous effort, and we have come a long way and that gives us a lot of confidence about the abilities of the SAF."
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