Behind the RAAF, the Republic of Singapore Air Force was the largest participant in the recent Pitch Black air combat exercise, sending no fewer than 18 aircraft to Darwin for the duration.
All together the RSAF deployed eight Boeing F-15SG Eagles from 149 Squadron at Paya Lebar; eight Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 52+ Fighting Falcons from 145 Sqn at Tengah Air Base; and single examples of its Gulfstream 550AEW (Airborne Early Warning) from 111 Sqn at Tengah, and Airbus Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft from 112 Sqn at Changi East Air Base.
Being a small nation with a modern and well-equipped military, Singapore relies on National Service men to make up the numbers required, and a mix of full-time and national service air and ground crews participated in Pitch Black 2022.
An example of the latter was Major Robin Chew, an F-15SG pilot, who spoke with ADM shortly after completing a Red Air mission during the Large Force Employment (LFE) phase of the exercise.
“The training opportunities here are better than at home, it’s a much bigger airspace, you know, in terms of foreign assets and the interoperability, coming here and benchmarking ourselves against the others,” he explained. “The airspace is basically huge, and if you compare it even to what they have in the US it’s huge by any means. We took off and did some air-to-air refuelling, got our gas and just trucked out and waited for the good guys to start marshalling and then we had the fight going on. It was something like a 3.2-hour flight, which is almost the same as going back home (from Darwin to Singapore) on a commercial flight.
“Today we had the F-35s, we had our own aircraft and the (RAAF EA-18G) Growlers were there as well. So, we had actually a good mix. I think the (French Air Force) Rafales were there - I'm not really sure where they were exactly but I don't think we were in the lane that we were in. The F-35 is very interesting. I think the stealth capability is great and the sensors, the integration, help a lot in the awareness and how they can get shots in. I can't go into specifics, I guess, but the F-35 is good.”
In his day job, MAJ Chew is an F-15SG simulator instructor, working for a contractor and working closely with the RSAF’s two Eagle squadrons.
“National Service is not just about making up the numbers, we have got to be a credible force out there,” he added. “So, we need to be able to come here and update our skills. That's pretty important.”
The G550AEW provided support mainly for Blue Air during Pitch Black 2022, with Red Air being controlled by the RAAF’s ground-based 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit (MCRU).
“I'm excited to be here to learn from all the different nations participating. Exercises like Pitch Black are important, because we can open our opportunities in a complex large force employment exercise, something we don't normally get to do. And also, the airspace, we have a limited training airspace locally - the airspace is 20 times bigger and we get to exercise our full suite of operational capabilities,” an Air Warfare Officer with 111 Sqn explained.
“In Pitch Black specifically the G550 is doing air surveillance. We’re there to provide early detection for the fighter jets, give them enhanced situational awareness, and allowing them to respond efficiently and quickly. Additionally, I'm also an instructor here, I'm here to train my junior crew to be competent at what they do and learn from the other nations as well.”
Pitch Black 2022 was the first in the biennial series in which the RSAF participated with its new MRTT aircraft. Previous Pitch Blacks were supported by the now-retired Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers. Although capable of Automatic Air to Air Refuelling (A3R), the single MRTT deployed to Darwin did not utilise the feature during the exercise.
“I think one of the biggest differences or greatest opportunities, I will say that we have is that this is the first time there are so many MRTT and air to refuelling aircraft that are participating together exercise, and it's a really, really good opportunity for 112 squadron, because we are able to learn from all these different tanker nations,” explained MRTT Pilot Major Michelle Teo.
“The MRTT is quite a new aircraft and so we can all learn best practices because everybody's still forming their standard operating procedures. So, for us as an MRTT squadron, Pitch Black is different from almost all other exercises, because usually we might be the only tanker for exercise, but in this case, we have so many people to learn from it and we love it.”
