ABOUT SAF'S CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DEFENCE CAPABILITY

History

The Gulf War highlighted the increased threat of chemical weapons and the SAF began individual Chemical Defence familiarisation training for its servicemen in 1991. By 1996, the SAF had developed a limited chemical response capability, and this was fielded during the World Trade Organisation Conference held in Singapore. Since Apr 2001, two units from the 39th Battalion Singapore Combat Engineers (SCE) and the Medical Response Force (MRF) from the SAF Medical Corps have provided the SAF's immediate response force in the event of chemical-biological incidents.

Following the Sept 11 attacks when security in Singapore was stepped up, the SAF's stand-by forces have been working with Home Team agencies to provide security coverage for significant international events. These included the World Trade Organisation-Informal Ministerial Meeting (WTO-IMM) in Oct 2001, Asian Aerospace Show 2002, and the Asia Pacific Security Conference in Jun 2002.


The CBRE Defence Group

The complexity of terrorist threats and the danger of multiple attacks call for a suite of comprehensive preventive measures to be put in place. The CBRE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosive) Defence Group was formed to enhance the SAF's counter-terrorist capabilities to address this multi-faceted threat.

The CBRE Defence Group manages all issues concerning counter-terrorist CBRE development and consists of:

• 36 SCE, which is the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit specialising in defusing explosive devices.

• 39 SCE, which is the Chemical and Biological Defence Unit. It decontaminates incident sites that contain chemical or biological hazards and provides a sustained, multi-incident response capability. 39 SCE works with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in the event of a chemical attack.

• The Medical Response Force (MRF) from the SAF Medical Corps, which provides on-scene medical treatment for casualties of chemical and biological agents.