Republic of Singapore Air Force

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Republic of Singapore Air Force
新加坡 共和国 空军
Angkatan Udara Republic of Singapore
சிங்கப்பூர் ஆகாயப்படை

Lineup April 1, 1975
Country SingaporeSingapore Singapore
Armed forces Singapore Armed Forces
Type Armed forces ( air force )

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the air force of the Republic of Singapore and the third branch of the Singapore Armed Forces . It has a personnel strength of over 13,000, and it is by far the most powerful air force in Southeast Asia . The Air Force also operates an official aerobatic team , the Black Knights .

Organizationally, the RSAF has consisted of five commands below the management staff with its various departments, the Air Defense Operations Command (ADOC), the Air Combat Command (ACC), the Participation Command (PC), the Air Power Generation Command (APGC) and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Command (UC). The flying units are subordinate to the ACC and the military airfields to the APGC.

history

The Royal Air Force in Singapore

The first RAF plans for a station in what was then the British Crown Colony of Singapore date back to 1921, which ultimately led to the establishment of RAF Seletar , a base for land and sea planes and flying boats, where the first Supermarine Southampton arrived in 1928 .

A first regional command, to which all units in the Far East were subordinated, the RAF set up in Singapore in 1930 under the name Royal Air Force Singapore . This was known as the Headquarters Air Force Far East Command from 1933 until the conquest of Singapore by the Japanese invasion of Malaysia .

In Bengali "exile" Lord Mountbatten , the British Commander in Chief in Southeast Asia, set up the Air Command, South East Asia in 1943 , which was initially renamed RAF Air Command Far East in 1946, now again in Singapore , before it was renamed Far East in mid-1949 Air Force (FEAF). From 1946 flight operations also began in RAF Changi , today one of the busiest airports in the world and since the Second World War also known as the location of the notorious Changi prisoner of war camp . In the late 1940s and 1950s, the RAF flew combat missions from Singapore as part of the Malaya riots . Machines from the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force , which were stationed in RAF Tengah for this purpose , were also used.

In 1962, the FEAF merged to form the Far East Command , which spanned the armed forces and existed until the United Kingdom finally withdrew from Singapore in 1971. The 1960s saw operations in the context of the confrontation with the Philippines and Indonesia around Sarawak and Sabah . During those years, there were transporters and helicopters in RAF Seletar , while most of the combat aircraft were still deployed from RAF Tengah . From 1967, military flight operations also began at the Paya Lebar airport, which was previously used exclusively for civilian purposes , and from then on, long-distance troop transports were handled in particular.

In the roughly five decades of the RAF flight operations, a large number of different types of aircraft and squadrons were stationed at the RAF stations in Singapore. A large number of related details can be found on the corresponding English page about the RSAF, the Far East Air Force (Royal Air Force) page there and the links to the individual airfields.

One unit should be mentioned at this point: The 230 Squadron was stationed several times in Singapore or subordinated to the regional command there, initially with Short Sunderland flying boats and later with Westland Whirlwind transport helicopters . The model of their relay coat of arms, which is still used today, shows a tiger in front of a palm tree, was the logo of the local Tiger Brewery. The season adapted it during their first stay in Singapore before World War II. Their Malay motto, "Kita Chari Juah" (We strive far), also recalls the earlier connections to Southeast Asia. Incidentally, the season with its Whirlwinds and in the 1980s again, this time with Pumas , belonged to RAF Germany .

The Republic of Singapore Air Force

F-5S of No. 144 Squadron.

In 1968 Great Britain announced the withdrawal of all foreign troops east of the Suez Canal . As a result, Singapore, which had only been founded a few years earlier as a city-state independent of Malaysia , was forced to set up its own air force within a very short time, as the previous protection by the Royal Air Force was no longer available.

In 1968 the Singapore Air Defense Command (SADC) was set up as the first measure . The first task was to train the staff, with Great Britain providing assistance. The following year, this first single-engine sport aircraft were Cessna 172 and later jet trainer type BAC Strike Master procured.

The following year the first Hawker Hunter fighter jets were taken over from the former colonial power . Another big task came at the end of 1971 when we took over the operation of the five previous RAF stations, which, with the exception of Seletar, still exist as an air base (see overview below). Further aircraft types were added in the following years, in addition to the Douglas A-4 Skyhawks and the first Short Skyvan transporters before command was given the current name Republic of Singapore Air Force in April 1975 .

The following decades were characterized by an initially steady expansion and later consistent modernization to become the most important air force in Southeast Asia. Due to the expansion, units, especially for training, were stationed at bases of friendly countries overseas (see overview below).

For this purpose, the country acquired four Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers in 1996 ; previously the country only owned a few smaller Lockheed KC-130B / H Hercules tankers, which were in service until 2019. They were replaced by six Airbus A330 MRTTs from 2018 .

equipment

Planes

RSAF F-15SG Eagle
F-16C of No. 140 Squadron.

As of the end of 2010

RSAF KC-135R Stratotanker

helicopter

Air bases

The RSAF operates four military airfields on its own territory , all of them former Royal Air Force stations :

  • Changi Air Base , base of transport / tank (A330), maritime reconnaissance (F50) and combat aircraft (F-16), 112 , 121 and 145 Squadron - the F-16 squadron is on the east side, the remaining two are on the east side on the west side of the airport. Changi East will be expanded in connection with the planned closure of Paya Lebar and the expansion of the civil area of ​​Changi.
  • Paya Lebar Air Base , base of transport (C-130) and fighter aircraft (F-5, F-15), 122 , 141 , 144 , 148 and 149 Squadron , is to be closed and the units are to be moved to Tengah and Changi- To be relocated east
  • Sembawang Air Base , base of Combat (Apache), Training and Liaison (Colibri), Airborne (S-70) and Transport Helicopters (Super Puma, Cougar, Chinook), 120 , 123 , 124 , 125 and 127 Squadron
  • Tengah Air Base , the base of early warning (E-2) and fighter aircraft (F-16), 111 , 140 and 143 Squadron , is being expanded in connection with the closure of Paya Lebars

Due to the cramped airspace, the RSAF operates a number of permanent detachments in various countries, most of which consist of training squadrons:

F-15SG of the 428th Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home AFB

The machines, which are permanently stationed in the USA, partly bear American national badges and the units are formally part of the American armed forces ( USAF or US Army ). The F-15 and F-16 retraining are scheduled to be relocated to Andersen Air Force Base , Guam , by the end of the 2020s . The background of the plan is, on the one hand, the possibility of training over water, which is better suited to the local conditions of the island republic than it is currently deep in the interior of the US. On the other hand, a short-term transfer to Singapore that may become necessary can take place more quickly.

Shorter relocations, which usually take a few weeks or months, also take place regularly to other airports in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh.

Web links

Commons : Republic of Singapore Air Force  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A wild ride aboard RSAF's newest tanker - the high-value target keeping fighters airborne Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/wild-ride-rsaf-multi-role-tanker-transport-fighters- airborne-11984826. Channel News Asia, October 9, 2019
  2. ↑ Singapore air force concludes KC-135R operations, Janes, November 11, 2019
  3. ↑ Boeing completes deliveries of F-15SG jets to Singapore, Defense News, July 12, 2017
  4. ↑ Singapore takes delivery of final batch of S-70B Seahawks, Janes, February 12, 2018
  5. ↑ RSAF forms second local F-15SG squadron, Janes, March 22, 2016