Training against a thinking enemy

In a first for Exercise Forging Sabre, an integrated live-firing exercise, the SAF pits itself against a smart enemy.

A series of explosions rocked the vast desert expanse of Phoenix, Arizona, United States, as F-15SG and F-16C/D fighter planes, AH-64D Attack Helicopters, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers unleashed a variety of precision bombs and missiles in a coordinated strike.

It was an impressive show of firepower - well-timed and clinical - typical of the 3rd Generation Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). But what was truly remarkable in the exercise was the battle before the live firing.

Held from 2 to 17 Dec 2013, this latest edition of Exercise Forging Sabre (XFS) was the fourth in the series first started in 2005. All in, 700 personnel, six F-15SGs, six F-16C/Ds, five AH-64Ds, three HIMARS, two CH-47 Chinook helicopters and two ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were deployed in both day and night missions at the Barry M. Goldwater Range - a live firing area 19 times the size of Singapore.

Think fast, think smart

For the first time in the Forging Sabre series, a thinking enemy, the Red Force, was introduced as a sparring partner.

At the command post where the battle was orchestrated, the SAF battle staff, comprising personnel from the Air Force and Army, were up against a Red Force that could think, react and adapt in real-time.

Overall and Air exercise director Brigadier-General (BG) Lim Tuang Liang, Commander of the Air Combat Command, said XFS 13 was not only a practice of its sensor-to-shooter chain, but also a test of how the battle staff react to changing, unexpected situations caused by a live enemy.

He explained: "Being able to deal with a thinking enemy challenges the command post to make decisions, to integrate what they see on the ground through the sensors, to find the correct strike platform, address the particular threat and coordinate the responses of those strike capabilities...at the right time at the right place. That is the ultimate test of a command post."

The opposing force was led by two senior SAF commanders who role-played as the Red Force Air and Land commanders. Familiar with SAF tactics, they had the unfair advantage of knowing the SAF's battle plan for the exercise in advance.

"In war, you don't expect the enemy to play fair," said Red Force Air Commander Senior Lieutenant Colonel (SLTC) Ho Yung Peng. "To ensure that the SAF forces get realistic training, we want to make sure that we train as we would fight in war. As you know in war, we have a thinking enemy who will always adapt to the situation, never staying still for us to strike."

The Head of Air Training added: "Nothing beats having a real-life Red Air 'thinking' pilot. In the command post, you don’t know what the Red Air is going to do, so you have to be on your toes all the time."

In the war game simulation, the Red Force, just like the SAF, had networked fighting capabilities. It had air and land assets such as F-15SGs and F-16C/Ds with beyond visual range missiles, a ground-based air defence system, artillery rocket launchers and armoured columns.

The SAF battle staff had to make sense of the enemy information obtained from its sensors - two ScanEagle UAVs and one Commando detachment.

And they needed to consider these issues: Is it a moving or static target? What shooter and munition should be used? Which target to strike first when there are more targets than their shooters can handle? Are there friendly forces in the vicinity? How can they avoid collateral damage?

These and other decisions had to be made quickly because the battlefield situation was fluid and fast-changing.