EX COPE TIGER 2011 CONCLUDES ON SUCCESSFUL NOTE

This year's Exercise Cope Tiger - an annual trilateral air exercise - saw more than a hundred military aircraft and 34 Ground-based Air Defence (GBAD) systems operating in tight concert as the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) and United States Air Force gathered for the second phase of the exercise held at Korat Air Base, Thailand from 14 to 25 Mar.

The exercise also marked the inaugural participation of the RSAF's G550-Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft in an overseas training exercise. The first G550-AEW aircraft was delivered to the RSAF in February 2009 to replace the ageing E2C Hawkeye AEW.

"The exercise provided an excellent platform to validate our procedures as we learnt to interoperate with our foreign counterparts in a different environment and operational setting," said Captain (CPT) Toh Su Sin, an Air Warfare Officer in 111 Squadron, which operates the G550-AEW aircraft.

Equipped with a sophisticated mission suite that includes an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, the G550-AEWs have a detection range of more than 200 nautical miles.

Exercise Cope Tiger 2011 started with a command post exercise held at Changi Naval Base in Singapore from 14 to 16 Dec last year before moving on to the second phase, the flying training exercise, in Thailand.

"The exercise has been a very fruitful and successful one for the RSAF. Its realistic scenarios gave us an excellent opportunity to hone our air combat readiness and competencies, both at the planning and execution levels," said Colonel (COL) Neo Hong Keat, RSAF exercise director.

"The opportunity to work alongside the other two countries also provided a great platform for cross-learning and sharing."

Apart from professional exchanges, exercise participants such as F-16C/D fighter pilot Lieutenant (LTA) Low Siyuan also valued the chance to interact with his foreign counterparts. "It is good to be able to work so closely with one another and exchange lessons freely and I've learnt a lot from my counterparts," said LTA Low.

"Through the exercise, I have forged many friendships with others in the RSAF and the US Air Force," he added.

This was something which the RTAF exercise director Group Captain Thawonwat Chantanakom also spoke of: "The working relationships and friendships that our airmen and crew have built up over the years have made working together a smooth process. I know that we can fall in with our counterparts and be a much more effective fighting unit, than if we had never worked together."

"Each air force brings to the table confidence and the abilities of weapon employment which we can learn from, and vice-versa. This allows the USAF to work alongside highly professional air force personnel from the RSAF and RTAF, and benchmark our methodologies in order to improve on them," agreed COL Robert Huston, USAF exercise director.

As part of this year's exercise, the participants also provided basic health and dental services to the local community in Korat in a one-day joint socio-civic programme. An eight-member medical personnel led by CPT (Dr) Jocelyn Ong worked together with their RTAF and USAF counterparts to provide basic health and dental care to the communities at Korat .

More than 2,300 personnel from the participating forces took part in Ex Cope Tiger 2011, which is the 17th in the series. It formally concluded on 25 Mar with a closing ceremony officiated by the three exercise directors from the RSAF, RTAF and USAF.