Oral Reply by Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How to Parliamentary Question on Overseas Training Detachments.

Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant asked the Minister for Defence (a) in what ways have the various overseas training detachments abroad helped to sharpen the training and warfare skills of the men and women of the Singapore Armed Forces in land-scarce Singapore; and (b) in what ways have these overseas training detachments boosted bilateral defence ties between Singapore and the host country providing the training facilities.

Senior Minister of State for Defence, Heng Chee How:

The primary purpose of overseas training detachments is to enable the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to train realistically and remain operationally ready. Singapore’s limited land, air, and sea space constrains the scale and complexity of military training that the SAF can conduct locally. MINDEF and the SAF are grateful to our foreign partners and their people who have extended valuable overseas training opportunities to us.

With access to overseas training spaces, the SAF is able to hone its warfighting skills in complex scenarios, realistic conditions and varied terrain. For example, the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Australia, which is the location for Exercise Wallaby, is about five times the size of Singapore. It allows the SAF to exercise its full range of capabilities and cross-service integrated training. Its varied terrain, ranging from beaches to light forests and open fields, allows our commanders to hone their military planning and leadership, and our soldiers to polish their execution and capabilities.  

Long-term overseas training detachments also offer the added benefit of learning and benchmarking with our foreign counterparts. Our Air Force’s overseas training detachments in the United States do not just provide our F-16 fighter aircraft and Apache attack helicopter pilots and crew access to large airspaces and live-firing ranges to sharpen their skills. They also provide our people valuable opportunities to participate in exercises and competitions to learn from and benchmark against their US counterparts.

In addition to conducting regular exchanges with their professional counterparts, SAF personnel in our overseas training detachments participate actively in local community life and contribute back to the local communities, thus contributing to the strengthening of bilateral ties. The RSAF’s 150 Squadron based in Cazaux Air Base in France joins the French in Bastille Day flypast ceremonies and celebrations. Our personnel also stand ready to render assistance in times of need, just as our CH-47 Chinooks in Queensland had done last month in supporting Australia’s flood relief efforts.

We thank our foreign partner countries and their people who have welcomed us warmly into their countries and communities, and extended valuable training opportunities to the SAF.