SAF gears up for most complex, live fire drill in US

SINGAPORE: For more than half a month now, some 370 Singapore Armed Forces men have been taking part in a series of exercises at Fort Sill in the United States.

And the 24—day Forging Sabre exercise will culminate in a live firing exercise which will be observed by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Tuesday.

The integrated mission will involve the Apache attack helicopters, F16 fighter aircraft, Searcher Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and artillery and commando ground forces.

It is the most complex integrated strike exercise ever mounted by the SAF in terms of scale and magnitude.

In addition, this will mark the first time the F16 fighter jets will be dropping live ammunition — including a 2,000 pound bomb in an air/land integrated exercise environment.

Brigadier General Richard Pereira, the Exercise Air Director said: "An exercise like that when different air and land elements are brought together and sensors and shooters are brought together in an integrated way, a timely way, again gives you the confidence that the processes work."

The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said that such an integrated exercise will provide soldiers with a realistic training environment, beyond what a technical live firing exercise can provide.

Captain Foo Ting Loong, an F16 pilot, said: "It’s not simply just going in and dropping the bombs, we have to coordinate with each other to determine what exact language we’re going to talk to each other about, what each specific term means, so that we can communicate effectively to destroy the target."

This year’s Forging Sabre exercise is the second in the series which began in 2005. The first was also held in the United States.

Mindef said the US’ support for Forging Sabre is a reflection of the longstanding and excellent defence ties between Singapore and the US. — 938LIVE/vm