UNLESS one looks beyond the obvious, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) war games that ended in South Africa yesterday may appear similar to its previous live-firing exercises.

After all, the AH-64D Apache attack helicopters and Primus 155mm self-propelled heavy artillery guns, sent 9,000km to the South African veld for Exercise Lightning Warrior, have been in service for some years. Their deployment is hardly newsworthy. But Exercise Lightning Warrior merits closer inspection.

The weapons fielded may not have been new, but the complexity, scope and combat capabilities showcased at the firepower demonstration were unmatched compared to previous SAF war games.

Thanks to good defence relations with South Africa, the SAF launched the exercise on May 10, in the Lohatla Combat Training Centre.

A massive 50km by 40km patch of bush, the training area is some three times the size of Singapore. The expansive grounds allowed SAF units - trained, organised and equipped to go into battle as the Third Generation SAF - to hit targets at far greater distances than is possible here.

The manoeuvres showed that the SAF's aim to transform itself into a Third Generation force has progressed from concept to reality. Still, it would be no cliche to say the SAF's transformation is a journey and not an end state.

Simply put, this means the 3rd Gen SAF is characterised more by the constant innovation of war machines and in its methods of fighting, rather than by a checklist of capabilities to be ticked off.

Terms such as 'Third Generation' and 'transformation' entered the lexicon of Mindef and SAF in 2003, coined by ex-Defence Permanent Secretary Peter Ho as buzzwords to describe an ambitious and extensive modernisation of the SAF's capabilities.

The time line is not definite, but generally speaking, 1st Gen SAF refers to its formative years when units were rapidly established after National Service was introduced in 1967; 2nd Gen SAF is the period around the 1990s, when the army introduced combined arms divisions and exercises that emphasised integrated operations.

What the 3rd Gen SAF aspires to become is difficult to see. This is because the battle- winning potential of the 3rd Gen SAF rests mainly within a digital network of battlefield sensors - terrestrial, aerial and sub-sea - that soaks up data from the battle space, transmits the data over wireless networks and presents it to SAF combat leaders on battlefield computers.

In theory, at least, the network integrates the SAF's combat power and enables its units to see first, see more, understand faster and be quicker to react. The One SAF network enables commanders to gain a decisive advantage against an enemy's decision- making and reaction cycles - which is why this form of warfare is known as 'network-enabled' warfare.

All military forces - even the Swiss guards protecting the Pope - stage firepower demonstrations from time to time. The target audience for this Exercise Lightning Warrior included the Singapore public and overseas defence observers.

Though the 3rd Gen concept may be hard for people to grasp, the education pro-

cess is vital. This is because taxpayers and their elected representatives need to be convinced their money is being well spent.

And citizen soldiers who form the backbone of the SAF must be confident they will be fighting with superior battle- winning concepts. Singapore's allies too must be reassured that when they operate alongside the SAF, they are working with a top-notch force.

Above all, elements that may nurse hostile intentions towards Singapore must understand the firepower the SAF could unleash against them. The SAF's deterrent value would be lost if potential aggressors are unaware of the damage the SAF can inflict should diplomacy fail.

Every year, the SAF trains with some 20 nations. There is roughly one exercise with a foreign military every week - or more than 50 exercises a year, not counting the dozens of unilateral military manoeuvres the SAF holds.

Of these, a mere handful are showcased either for defence diplomacy reasons or, as in the case of Exercise Lightning Warrior, to sharpen deterrence by highlighting new capabilities.

In South Africa, SAF units showed how they used information from sources as diverse as commandos, camera- equipped Searcher Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and radars designed to track shells, rockets and bombs. Such data was fused at the Division Strike Centre to pre-empt, target and kill enemy rocket artillery batteries and air defence units. The picture SAF commanders have of their battle space now goes above and beyond their immediate visual horizon, and can extend as far as 100km into the enemy's space.

For the first time, the SAF showed in South Africa how the Republic of Singapore Air Force and the army coordinate their forces to detect, target, kill and, most importantly, confirm the destruction of fleeting targets such as multiple launch rocket systems.

SAF war games always involve much sound and fury. What was different about Exercise Lightning Warrior was the speed with which ordnance was put on target after battlefield sensors had detected them. This is called the sensor-to-shooter cycle.

But the accelerated information flow comes with a price: SAF personnel must gird themselves to deal with near instantaneous reports of bad news. They must steel themselves and not lose heart when they are surrounded or when the battle has turned against them.

The psychological dimension of giving soldiers real- time battlefield information is worth analysing because the will to fight is as important as the potency or accuracy of one's weapons. Attention must be invested in realistic training, discipline, motivation and quality leadership so as to instil in SAF personnel a resilient mindset to weather the heat of battle.

Away from the battlefield, combat support units from SAF Supply, Transport and Maintenance & Engineering were the unsung heroes of Exercise Lightning Warrior, having delivered tonnes of weapons and equipment across the Indian Ocean - from Singapore to South Africa.

The SAF's familiarity with supporting far-flung exercises proved of immense value during the 2005 tsunami relief operation when its support units rapidly fuelled, loaded and sent off warships and aircraft to Indonesia and Thailand. In war, the value of a responsive and adaptable support capability goes without saying.

Looking ahead, one can expect SAF war games to be more complex as more capabilities for the 3rd Gen SAF become fully operational.

dboey@rocketmail.com

The writer is a former Straits Times defence correspondent.