Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on SAF Operations and Training

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Defence (a) how has the COVID-19 crisis affected SAF operations and training in 2020 so far, (b) how has the SAF coped with the challenges to ensure that the operational readiness of SAF and the quality of all SAF training have remained uncompromised.

Mr Speaker, the hon Member, Mr Dennis Tan has asked for the state of SAF readiness during this COVID-19 pandemic. It is a pertinent question, because despite the COVID-19 crisis being dubbed as the test of this generation, our other security threats are in no way diminished. So, let me elaborate.

The SAF operations that are deemed critical such as island defence, protection of key installations, maritime security, air defence and counter-terrorism, continue around the clock even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, they never stop, whether we had circuit breaker or before that or even now. And it will not stop. Similarly, training schools that are essential to sustain our operational units have also continued, namely the Officer Cadet School, the Specialist Cadet School and essential In-Camp Training or ICT.

To be able to achieve that, to be able to continue to be Readiness Condition 1, REDCON 1, for these critical missions, the key aspect is manning. You have to plan for manning, in the face of the risk of infection. So, to minimise the risk of infection for these critical units, the SAF implemented strict health and safety measures. They include cohorting, safe distancing measures, reduction in training group size and testing regimes.

But, in order to make sure that you maintain REDCON 1 across the span of duties, some personnel performing critical operations had to isolate themselves in camps and bases for a period of time. Why? Because this is how it works. You have to make sure that you are ready and you are free from infection before you start your duty. And the only way they could do that was to stay in camp for two weeks away from their families as a cohort before they start their duties and during their operational duties.

For other SAF training, the disruptions caused by COVID-19 corresponded to restrictions and other measures placed on the general public for safety and health reasons. For example, during the circuit breaker period, Basic Military Training or BMT and large-scale overseas exercises were suspended as well as some ICTs were deferred.

Mr Tan asked how the SAF has coped. I think the SAF has coped well with these challenges brought about by COVID-19. In addition to maintaining its core functions and military training, the SAF strongly supported our nation's fight against COVID-19. More than 6,000 MINDEF/SAF personnel were mobilised and deployed across a wide range of national task forces and operations. They range from leading contact tracing, caring for migrant workers in dormitories, converting and managing SAF camps as community recovery facilities, and providing medical care to recovering patients.

With the easing up of restrictions on the public, the SAF has progressively resumed more training and exercises, while continuing to take health and safety precautions. More ICTs have been conducted and some overseas training have resumed. For example, the Navy has just safely completed a 67-day deployment for the Rim of the Pacific, RIMPAC, which is a multinational naval exercise held in Honolulu. It was SAF's first overseas exercise since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. And for this, the RSN had to plan, how do you ensure: one, that you can pick up detections while you are at sea; and two, care for infected servicemen or servicewomen while at sea, because you are out there and you may need ICU. It was an interesting exercise; it was an interesting challenge. They brought on a COVID-19 test kit, they put it on board and they converted their ship with ICU capabilities. I was quite proud of them for being able to do that. Thankfully, they did not have to use the ICU, none of them got infected and they successfully completed that exercise.

The RSAF pilots continue to hone their skills with regular local flying as well as overseas training and exercises. Later this month, the Air Force will be deploying about 200 personnel and 10 aircraft to train in Darwin, Australia for about two months. Our boys and women are there now, doing their two weeks of isolation before they start training.

In tandem with the increase in training activities, the SAF has also added measures to enhance the detection of COVID-19 infections to mitigate their spread. From October, some ICT units will have their NSmen undergo swab tests if proximity to other individuals cannot be avoided during training. That is an added measure on top of the measures that I talked about. For these swab tests, DSO is assisting the SAF to use other methods which are more suited for mass testing. For example, oropharyngeal mid-turbinate swabs or OP-MT, or saliva testing. Initial results of our trials on both these different applications have been promising with regard to the acceptability and accuracy of these newer methods.

While the SAF contributes to Singapore's fight against COVID-19, it will not be distracted from its core functions. The SAF recognises that Singapore's security challenges do not diminish during this COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, our assumption is that, would be aggressors can take advantage of the situation to do us harm. The SAF will therefore continue to be vigilant, maintain its level of operational readiness through realistic training and full-manning of critical units.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Minister for his comprehensive replies. I have one supplementary question. Picking on the experience in handling training and operational matters during the COVID-19 period this year, is the Minister able to share with this House whether the SAF has any plans to enhance its training programme locally or overseas in the coming year, especially if he considers that the COVID-19 situation may have improved as far as the training scenarios are concerned? Thank you – in the coming year, Sir.

Mr Speaker, again, very pertinent questions. Our assumption is, as I had said, on an operational level, critical functions cannot stop. And you do everything you can to make sure you are fully manned, all hands on deck, minimise infections; if there are infections, you get replacements. That is not negotiable and that will continue.

But, of course, a large part of the SAF operations are what we call – not critical real time, but you still need to maintain the operational readiness, the level of training, that tempo. As all of us know, more realistic training, some of it can be done locally to the extent possible. For example, pilots, you can do simulators, you can fly. Yesterday, we just had a question on RSAF pilots and I asked for the indulgence of the public and Members to understand why we have to train locally. We have done everything possible to train as much as we can overseas, but what remains, has to be done here, we have done it and we have made adjustments.

But for a lot of the army exercises, tanks, artilleries, our HIMARS operations, our infantry and so on and so forth, we have done that in overseas areas. That sometimes is subject to the other party. Let me just say that our attitude is not to take COVID-19 as a reason not to train. We keep knocking on doors to say we will take measures to protect your public and we will make sure that we are disciplined. We will make sure that we have testing but we want to start training. But, we can understand that it is subject to many factors. Be that as it may, where we can, we will continue and step up local training.

That is why, I mentioned that, in order for us to give us the confidence to be able to train at the tempo and at the pace that we want to, even locally, our assessment is that we will need mass testing.

If you ask your tank platoons to mount up and go into their tanks, they cannot practice safe distancing. And therefore, you have to test all of them. The way to do that is to have tests which are acceptable, which are accurate and that is why I mentioned saliva testing, I mentioned oropharyngeal mid-turbinate testing, which can be more readily applied to larger groups, as well as other innovative methods of testing that we are working on.