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Singapore Growth of the Armed Forces
Singapore's separation from Malaysia in August 1965
forced
government leaders to begin thinking about the new
nation's defense
strategy and what armed forces would be needed to make
that
strategy a viable deterrent to potential adversaries. The
task was
made all the more difficult because of Singapore's
strained
relations with Malaysia and Indonesia
(see
Two Decades of Independence 1965-85
, ch. 1). Lee appointed Goh Keng Swee
to head
the newly established Ministry of the Interior and
Defence. By June
1966, the government had decided that instituting
compulsory
conscription was the best way to build up the armed
forces.
Government leaders were impressed with Israel's successful
use of
a small regular army supported by a large citizen reserve
and
believed that the development of this type of armed forces
would
encourage national pride and self-reliance.
Between 1967 and 1970, the army was expanded from two
infantry
battalions to two brigades comprising one tank regiment,
six
infantry battalions, and one artillery battalion. The
first classes
of officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) graduated
from the
Armed Forces Training Institute in June 1967. This group
of about
500 men was trained by Israeli instructors and provided
the army
with a core of leaders for both regular and reserve
battalions.
Under the system developed by the army's general staff,
officers
and NCOs were assigned to stay with newly formed national
service
battalions for the two-and-a-half years the conscripts
remained on
active duty. During this period, qualified enlisted men
were
selected for training as section and platoon leaders so
that when
a battalion was transferred to the reserves, a stable
leadership
would remain with the unit until its demobilization. In
1970 the
government divided the Ministry of Interior and Defence
into two
separate ministries responsible for home affairs and
defense,
respectively. By December of that year, the army's reserve
brigade
comprised three infantry battalions.
The evolution of the air force and navy occurred at a
slower
pace than was the case with the army. In 1968 British air
force
commanders and pilots began assisting the newly formed Air
Defence
Command to establish its own air units. The British helped
to
establish an air force pilot training program at the
Flying
Training School located at Tengah Air Base. The first
class of
pilots received basic military training and general flying
instruction in Singapore and then was sent to Britain for
fighter
aircraft training. These pilots returned to Singapore in
1971 and
were assigned to the Air Defence Command's two fighter
squadrons
comprising one ground attack squadron with sixteen
Strikemaster and
four Hawker Hunter jet aircraft, and one interceptor
squadron with
sixteen Hawker Hunters. In 1969 the Maritime Command
established
temporary headquarters on Sentosa Island where it remained
until a
permanent base was completed on Pulau Brani (pulau
means
island). The government had negotiated agreements with two
private
companies--Lurssen Werft of the Federal Republic of
Germany (West
Germany) and Vosper Thornycroft of Britain--for the joint
production of the navy's first naval vessels. Two gunboats
produced
in Britain were delivered to Singapore in 1969 and were
followed by
Singapore-produced models of the same design, which
entered service
in 1970.
In the 1970s, the army, air force, and navy were
expanded, new
weapon systems were acquired from abroad, local defense
industries
were established, and military logistical systems were
improved. In
1970 the army had 14,000 personnel on active duty and
6,000 in the
reserves. Infantry training and equipment were considered
adequate.
However, the army's newly formed armored regiment was not
yet
operational, and the single artillery battalion was
underequipped.
The engineer and signal branches also were in the early
stages of
development. In 1967 the government had established the
Sheng-Li
Holding Company under the Ministry of Defence to promote
stateowned -and-operated defense industries. By the mid-1970s,
Singapore
was producing ammunition, small arms, mortars, and
artillery for
the army and for export. In most cases, a Singapore
manufacturer
purchased the design and marketing rights for a weapon
from
European and American firms and then built the necessary
plant for
assembling the weapon. Tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft,
and some
surplus United States Navy amphibious craft and
minesweepers were
purchased to fill critical equipment shortages. Military
logistical
organizations established in the 1960s evolved into an
efficient
network of supply and maintenance facilities. These
concerns
included both interservice ordnance and transportation
supply bases
and intraservice facilities responsible for the
procurement and
repair of weapons and equipment used by only one of the
service.
By 1980, the armed forces had 42,000 personnel on
active-duty,
and the reserves had expanded to 50,000. The army had
become a
well-balanced force with regular units organized into one
armored
and three infantry divisions under the operational control
of a
single division commander. The navy's twelve patrol craft,
which
were equipped with guns and missiles, gave Singapore a
coastal
defense force, and its six landing ships provided a
limited
capability to support the army in an amphibious operation.
The air
force, with 131 fighter aircraft and 2 surface-to-air
missile
battalions, was now large enough to fulfill both its air
defense
and ground support missions. Additionally, the air force
had one
transport squadron capable of airlifting a fully equipped
infantry
battalion anywhere in Southeast Asia and one helicopter
squadron
available for counterinsurgency or search and rescue
operations.
In the 1980s, the number of army reservists more than
tripled,
although expansion of the regular armed services was
constrained
for budgetary reasons. By 1989 there were 170,000 army
reservists.
Only about 70,000 reservists, however, served in combat or
combat
support units subject to immediate mobilization. These
units
comprised one armored brigade equipped with AMX-13 tanks
and M-113
armored personnel carriers, six infantry brigades, ten
artillery
battalions, one commando battalion, and an unknown number
of combat
support battalions. Most of the remaining 100,000
reservists
probably either were assigned to units that would be used
as
fillers during wartime or served in the People's Defence
and Civil
Defence Forces. In the army, the number of engineer and
signal
battalions were increased by five and two, respectively,
but the
number of combat units remained basically the same
throughout the
decade. The air force added one squadron of F-5E
interceptors, one
early warning and reconnaissance squadron with four E-2Cs,
and one
transport helicopter squadron. Most growth in the navy
occurred in
combat support organizations. In 1989 the navy was in the
process
of establishing a new unit that would eventually comprise
six
missile-equipped corvettes.
Data as of December 1989
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