SHOWCASING PRECISION FLYING AND THRILLING MANOEUVRES AT NDP 2010

Singaporeans joining in the nation's 45th birthday celebration at the Padang should get their cameras ready for a visual feast in the skies. This year's National Day Parade (NDP) air participation segment, put up by the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), is set to wow the crowd once again.

"The public will experience an exhilarating display of aerial formations, exciting manoeuvres and a spectacular multimedia video," enthused Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Francis Ngooi, Chairman of NDP 2010 Air Participation Committee, at a media event on 10 Jun.

This year's parade will see a total of 20 aircraft, a significant increase compared to previous years. The Gulfstream G550-Airborne Early Warning (G550-AEW) aircraft and the F-15SG fighter aircraft will also be featured at the parade for the very first time.

The G550-AEW aircraft will make its inaugural public aerial appearance during the four-minute Aerial Flypast. The G550-AEW aircraft, replacing the E2C Hawkeye aircraft to provide airborne early warning for the RSAF, will be flying in close formation with four F-5 fighter aircraft.

"Flying at 270 nautical miles per hour which is approximately 500 kilometres per hour, enthusiasts will be able to get a good look at the G550-AEW aircraft," said LTC Leong Chun Siu, G550-AEW Lead of NDP 2010.

As for the F-15SG fighter aircraft, the most advanced and technologically sophisticated variant of the F-15 aircraft built to date, it will also be making its debut at the Aerial Flypast as well as the Presidential Salute.

During the Aerial Flypast, the F-15SG fighter aircraft will be thrilling the spectators with the "shackle" manoeuvre where two F-15SGs will fly parallel to each other before crossing flight paths and embarking on a high altitude climb, as well as the "combat turn" where a solo F-15SG will execute an impressive small radius turn and end off with a dazzling vertical spiral climb.

Said LTC Kelvin Khong, F-15SG Lead of NDP 2010: "Each manoeuvre has its own challenge. For the 'shackle' manoeuvre, it will be very exciting as the two F-15SGs will be flying together as close as 1,000 feet apart from wing-tip to wing-tip. For the 'combat turn', the pilot will have to perform the manoeuvre under up to nine times the force of gravity."

Besides the Aerial Flypast, the air participation segment also includes the State Flag Flypast, featuring a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and two AH-64D Apache helicopters, and the Presidential Salute, where three F-15SG and five F-16 fighter aircraft take to the skies in a magnificent salute to the nation.

"For NDP 2010, we want to have a flypast that is exciting yet safe for all who are watching it from the ground," said LTC Gan Eng Leong, Flypast Marshall of NDP 2010 who is responsible for planning and coordinating the flypast.

"With rigorous planning and discussions with the organisers of the parade as well as the pilots, we have developed a flypast routine that will be safe and I'm sure all Singaporeans will enjoy."