Page 8 - ADT JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 Online Magazine

helicopters and High Mobility Artillery Rocket
Systems engaging in joint live-firing exercises.
The endurance of the fighters in the air was
also extended with air-to-air refuelling carried
out by the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport.

XFS21 also marked the inaugural participation [ COVER STORY ]
of the Singapore Army's Headquarters Sense
and Strike (HQ SS) which was inaugurated
in November 2020. HQ SS has been created
by the reorganisation of Headquarters Army
Intelligence and Headquarters Singapore
Artillery under 6 Division (6 Div), integrating
the Army's tactical intelligence and fires capa-
assets in seamless integration and interoperability. The eighth bilities. “This is the first time HQ SS and the
edition, Exercise Forging Sabre 2021 (XFS21) took place from TPQ-53 WLR are taking part in XFS. HQ SS'
14-25 September last year at Mountain Home Air Force Base, participation marks an important milestone in
Idaho, United States and showcased the dramatic strides made by validating the next-generation Army tactical
the SAF towards what it calls ‘sense-and-strike’. "We have to push intelligence and fires capabilities,” said Colonel
boundaries to make sure we are continuing to develop the whole Adrian Teng, 43, Commander 6 Div and HQ SS.
sense-and-strike ecosystem of the SAF well, in order to meet the "Through the exercise, we have validated the
future, more complex, more uncertain warfighting environment," next-generation Army's tactical intelligence and
said XFS21 Exercise Director (Air) Brigadier-General (BG) Chan fires capability and at the same time harnessed
Ching Hao, 40. A total of 800 personnel belonging to the RSAF the operational synergies with the RSAF. This
(600) and Singapore Army (200) took part in XFS21. allows the next-generation army to see better
and shoot faster, so that we can address
A suite of aerial and ground sensors, such as the RSAF's Heron 1 emerging challenges in the new operating
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and the Army's TPQ-53 Weapon environment that is going to be more complex
Locating Radar (WLR) respectively, were used to scan the battle- and dynamic."
field and collect timely and accurate intelligence. XFS21 witnessed
the use of a Heron 1 UAV deployed with a smaller drone that were These capabilties are paired in Singapore with
able to scan the operational area at different altitudes, since the the RSAF’s Island Air Defence System, which
smaller drone was able to conduct close-up reconnaissance while allows the SAF to detect threats at greater
the larger Heron 1 UAVs were able to see more and further. ranges than before and identify and classify
potential threats before engaging them with
XFS21 saw the deployment of a full range of SAF assets and airborne assets or ground based defences. The
weapons including F-15SG and F-16C/D fighter jets working with IAD’s combat network was jointly developed by
commando lasing teams and STrike ObserveRs Mission (STORM) the RSAF and DSTA and features an advanced
teams to take down multiple targets, and AH-64D Apache attack Combat Management System (CMS) and the
Decision Support Systems feature Artificial
Intelligence and Data Analytics allowing speed-
ier and better informed decision making for
effective neutralisation of emerging threats.
The intelligent Island Air Defence (IAD) system
integrates a range of advanced sensors such as
Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Elta Systems
ELM-2084S, known in the SAF as Multi-Mission
Radar (MMR) and Thales Ground Master 200,
which has been designated as System for
Hybrid Interceptor Knowledge of Recognised
Air (SHIKRA) radar along with MBDA Aster 30
Surface to Air Missile (SAM) systems.

Preparing for 5th Gen
The preferred base for the RSAF F-35Bs has
been announced by the U.S to be Ebbing Air
National Guard Base at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
This decision was made after several U.S. ally

8 | January/February 2022 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ ADT