Airforces - Typhoon school

The cutting edge
ACC was stood up on November 12, 2007 and
fully inaugurated on August 28 the following
year. The ACC’s mission is to plan, control
and execute assigned missions, integrating air
combat capabilities to support any Singapore
Armed Forces (SAF) campaign across the
operational spectrum. It is also tasked to
“raise, train and sustain the RSAF’s fighter
and transport force for employment by task
forces to achieve the SAF’s mission.”
The ACC is divided into four executive
and operational branches:

• Fighter Group (FG)


• Transport Group (TG)


• Operation Development Group (ODG)


• Integrated System Development Group (ISDG)
  The FG and TG focus mainly on aircraft-oriented
  proficiencies while the responsibilities of the ODG
  and ISDG include doctrine and capability.

Fighter Group
The Fighter Group is the RSAF’s ‘fighting edge’
and is currently in the middle of modernisation.
The F-5S/T Tiger II was retired in late 2015
and the FG currently flies two fighter types, the
F-15SG and the F-16C/D/D+. Even with the
drawing down of the F-5’s 144 Squadron in
2015, the RSAF still maintains its posture of five

fighter units, having reactivated 142 Squadron

as the second frontline F-15SG formation.

The RSAF has completed delivery of 40

F-15SGs, ordered between 2007 and 2014.

They now spearhead the RSAF’s air superiority

capabilities, divided among two combat

units and one training detachment. Based at

Paya Lebar Air Base (PLAB), 149 Squadron

was the first frontline F-15SG unit and was

re-inaugurated in April 2010 upon arrival of

the initial Strike Eagles from the United States.

Sometime in January 2015, 142 Squadron was

quietly stood up to become the second locally

based F-15SG unit and took on the additional

role of operational conversion unit (OCU).

Changi Airport’s current expansion, which

includes construction of its enormous Terminal

5, has led 145 Squadron’s F-16D+ Block 52 jets

from Changi Air Base (West) to temporarily

locate to Tengah Air Base, alongside

140 Squadron and 143 Squadron. The

RSAF’s F-16C/D fleet is now progressively

undergoing a mid-life upgrade (MLU) –

worth around US$914m – carried out by

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

The MLU includes replacing the old AN/

APG-68(V)5 with the Northrop Grumman

AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar,

integrating the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-

air missile with the Joint Helmet Mounted

Cueing System (JHMCS) and procuring

Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions

(LJDAM) and GBU-39/B Small Diameter

Bombs (SDB). The project also includes

installing the Link 16 tactical data link.

The FG also runs two training detachments in

Chen Chuanren assesses the Republic of Singapore Air

Force’s Air Combat Command as it celebrates its tenth year of

existence, following a service-wide restructuring.

Singapore’s Air

Combat Command

The first

decade

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #361 APRIL 2018 // 45