Have you ever wondered how powerful is the Singaporean Army?
despite its tiny geographical size, Singapore’s effort in enhancing its
defense industry has made it possible for them to become Southeast Asia’s most advanced military.
But how did they manage to reach this position? Hi everyone. Welcome back to Military TV.
In today’s episode, we are going to take a look at Singaporean military
industry. For more interesting insights, don’t go anywhere and stay tuned.
While it is evident that Singapore's Air Force is capable of substantial air-to-air combat,
its main duty goes beyond protecting the national boundaries, as they also work to secure regional
interests. Despite its small size, Singapore spent a lot of money on modernizing its defense
equipment, demonstrating that it is capable of having the latest state-of-the-art technology
for its military. According globalfirepower, Singapore ranked 40 out of 140 countries in
terms of military strength report in 2021. Looking back through historical record,
after successfully gaining independence in 1965, the newly-born city-state didn’t have
a well-founded standing military to support the nation completely, as its military comprised of
only two infantry regiments under the command of British officers and made up of mostly
non-Singaporean residents. When Britain left the country in October 1971, Singapore was left
with only small amount of British, Australian and New Zealand forces as a token military presence.
Following the complete pull out of New Zealand troops by 1989, Singaporean officials realized
that they are in dire need of bigger, capable yet economically unexpensive military force to defend
itself as the surrounding countries were undoubtedly mightier in size.
At this very time, Singapore built a rather covert relations with Israel,
which later dispatched its military advisers to help Singapore establish a robust defence
force fashioned partly after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Singaporean military were also
taught different warfare techniques to equip them with the skills in combat conflict in
the jungle areas of its neighbouring nations, should events like those happen in the future.
The country’s army subsequently get their hands on battle tanks from Israel,
acquiring the important combat machinery before neighbouring Malaysia obtained theirs.
In present time, Singapore's immense wealth enables it to buy and manufacture the best
equipment available, as well as integrate cutting-edge technology equipment into its
military forces. One thing to point out, however, is that most of their advanced military equipment
were purchased from other countries, especially the United States. Singaporean’s strongest arms of
its military is the republic’s Air Force, with the backbone of Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF)
is a fleet of stealthy F-15 and F-16 fighters. The RSAF is known to have acquired forty F-15SG
Eagles, forty F-16Ds, and twenty F-16Cs. These powerful fleet is complemented with approximately
thirty F-5S Tiger II and several A-4 Skyhawks in inventory. What’s more, Singapore also fields five
Israeli modified Gulfstream 550 jets with Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) capability.
The F-15SG, which is a derivative of the F-15E, is without a doubt Singapore's most capable fighter.
The APG-63(V)3 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, which is one of the best
aircraft mounted radars on any fighter in the region, is the F-15SG's most crucial advantage.
Due to their electronic nature, AESAs can also undertake electronic warfare activities, such as
actively degrading the lock of an active radar guided missile while scanning at the same time.
The F-16s of the Royal South African Air Force are also said to be getting AESAs.
Singapore, unlike its neighbours, has gone "all in" on Western technology.
Resupply and maintenance are likely to be easy due to their aircraft's common origins.
This trend appears to be continuing, with Singapore considering the F-35 as a replacement
for its F-5Es. They also have AWACS planes, which is a huge edge over their two closest neighbours.
That’s all for today! Thank you for watching and see you in the next episode.