Behind-the-Scenes Feature: In Control

The various air segments of the National Day Parade (NDP) are always one of the major highlights that the audience eagerly expects, and usually features the Red Lions military free fall, flypasts and air displays. With the amount of aircraft in and around the parade area, tight coordination and control of the flying assets is critical in ensuring deconfliction and accurate timing to put on a thrilling display for the crowds. In this article, we take a look at two of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) squadrons that are involved with these responsibilities: 206 Squadron and 113 Squadron.

206 Squadron

Located approximately in the centre among the various dispersal areas and runways at Sembawang Air Base (SBAB) is a 200 feet Tower, the tallest structure within the base. This is the home of 206 Squadron, a two-time winner of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Best Control Squadron in Work Year (WY) 14/15 and WY 18/19. As one of the Control Squadrons within the RSAF’s Air Power Generation Command (APGC), it provides the safe Launching and Recovery (L&R) of aircraft within SBAB. Located in the cupola at the top, the airmen and airwomen of the Squadron keep a close watch through the floor-to-ceiling glass which gives them a full 360-degree view of the Air Base – otherwise known as “The Million Dollar View”.

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As the only rotary-wing Air Base of the RSAF, the surrounding dispersal areas and hangars are occupied by the different Squadrons of Helicopter Group (HeliG), whose aircraft are an integral part of the NDP’s military free fall and state flag flypast segments. The smallest of the RSAF’s Air Bases, SBAB has the most aircraft movements at about 35,000 movements per year, which averages to about a 100 a day. It is also home to RESCUE 10, the callsign of the Search and Rescue (SAR) Super Puma helicopter that is on a 24/7 readiness for any rescue missions.

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A typical full tower crew consists of four key personnel and roles:
TIC (Tower Information Coordinator): Responsible for liaising with external agencies and managing the information needed by the Tower Crew for the conduct of flying operations within the Air Base
GC (Ground Controller): Responsible to provide control of all aircraft and vehicular movements on the ground within the Aircraft Manoeuvring Area (AMA)
TC (Tower Controller): Responsible to provide control of all aircraft flying within the Sembawang Air Traffic Control Zone; and
TXO (Tower Executive Officer): Responsible to oversee the Tower Crew and all L&R activities within the Sembawang Air Traffic Control Zone.


While the Tower is active during working hours, there is also a 24/7 crew to standby for the L&R of RESCUE 10 within 15 minutes of activation. The other responsibilities of the Squadron include overseeing the maintenance of the Aerodrome to ensure that it is a safe environment for the conduct of flying operations, and supporting the Base Command Post, which manages and oversees the Air Power Generation activities at SBAB.

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As part of its NDP duties, the Squadron has been facilitating HeliG’s work-up training since May, usually consisting of three Chinooks, three Apaches and a Super Puma. The timing and coordination of these activities have to be precise in order for the aircraft to meet their time on target (TOT) at the Parade. One of the main challenges is to manage the flying activities with the changes in weather conditions.


Weather is an extremely challenging and difficult factor to manage, especially in Singapore, where there can be varying weather conditions over different parts of the island simultaneously. This was apparent during the National Education 1 Show on 6 July, when the Red Lions free fall segment had to be cancelled as heavy rain over SBAB prevented the Super Puma to be launched on time.


“Maybe it’s a bit more stressful because we know there’s a show that Singaporeans are waiting for to happen,” said Major (MAJ) Gurdeep Kaur Gill, TXO, 206 Squadron, when asked if the NDP duties are different from the day-to-day operations. “Having said that, we will only launch when it’s safe to do so.” While the NDP air segments take place during the early evening timeslots, the crew usually report in earlier at around 2pm on Saturdays, to begin their preparations. “Because the NDP activities happen on weekends, we spend a bit more time away from our families on weekends, and we are thankful that they are supportive.”


“In the beginning before I enlisted, I would spend my NDP at home watching with my family, or finding spots outside to watch the fireworks. This year when my family knew that I had to devote my time on Saturdays to help out with the manning for NDP, initially they asked why I had to sacrifice my Saturdays. But after I explained to them the importance of my role in the safe launching and recovery of aircraft, and to ensure that the show goes on smoothly, they became more understanding”, said 3rd Sergeant (3SG) Gordon Chay Jia Xing, TIC, 206 Squadron. “Nobody really thinks about the backend team and the work that goes into it, and they are not really visible. It’s a great honour to be involved in the NDP while serving my National Service.”

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MAJ Gurdeep Kaur Gill (right) and 3SG Gordon Chay Jia Xing (left)

MAJ Gurdeep added, “I have young kids, and when they see the aircraft, they say ‘My mummy did that’. They know I work in the Tower, they know what we do here, and they are excited about it.”

113 Squadron

Six floors high, on the rooftop of the National Gallery Singapore (NGS), a 3m by 6m nondescript black enclosed booth is perched at the corner where a group of RSAF airmen and airwomen coordinate and control the various aircraft that are participating in the various NDP air segments. Helmed by the Chairman, callsign “Air Boss” and the Air Marshal, callsign “Mothergoose”, they ensure that each aircraft packet arrives on time, perfectly synchronised with the Parade, and that they enter and leave the show area safely. In addition, controllers and representatives of the various participating flying squadrons are also present coordinate with their own respective squadrons. The responsibility of ensuring all these processes work successfully lies on the shoulders of 113 Squadron, under the command of 9 Air Engineering and Logistics Group (9 AELG), part of the Air Defence and Operations Command (ADOC).

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As one of the units in the NDP’s Air Participation Committee (Air Part), its mission is to setup the Control and Communications (C2) systems and the Air Part control booth from which they will be operating from during the rehearsals and actual Parade, and ensuring the successful mission completion of the various air segments. Months prior, the team will have performed a site inspection to detemine the optimal location for the Air Part control booth, drawing out the equipment and logistics required, and conducting a mock testing and training – all before they began their setup in June at the Padang.


The C2 systems are critical to maintaining communication linkages with:
– the various control and flying Squadrons at the Air Bases for updated information such as weather, aircraft availability and status; and
– the main NDP control and command group across the Padang to ensure that the Parade components, such as videos or aircraft appear at the correct synchronised timing.

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For NDP 2019, three Air Bases will be launching the various aircraft required: Sembawang Air Base (Chinooks, Apaches, Super Puma), Paya Lebar Air Base (F-15SGs) and Changi Air Base East (A330 MRTT). Once the aircraft have been successfully launched and are in the holding area to the south of Singapore, the team will take over the control of them, and provide the necessary commands for any adjustments or cues to ensure they achieve their TOT over the Padang. As the communications in-charge (IC) for this year’s Air Part, Military Expert 2 (ME2) Pang Teck Lim, Air Force Engineer, 113 Squadron, is responsible for ensuring the robustness and responsiveness of the C2 system. “My role is to build a communication system for the controller at the Padang to talk to the aircraft and control units at the various Air Bases, and build the air picture. We use a radio switching system to include the radios and landlines communications, which can be setup in a public site, to take control of the airspace over it.”

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However, setting up the system in a public building does present some challenges. “Because NGS is an art museum, there are a lot of visitors daily, and there is a restaurant on level six. So in terms of installation work, such as laying the cables all the way from basement one to level six, it requires a lot of coordination, especially because we do not want to cause any inconvenience to the museum or the restaurant. For example, we have to lay the cables at night and when we realise that there are obstacles blocking the cables in between each level, where to reroute the cables. Most importantly, the cables must not be exposed, otherwise it will affect the aesthetic of the museum,” said ME2 Tai Wei Jing, Air Force Engineer, 113 Squadron, who is the communications second-in-charge (2IC). Routing the more than 150m of cables took about two days, and because of the unavailability of the building’s blueprints, the team needs to work with the museum’s maintenance agency very frequently to work out the best route for laying out.

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Despite these challenges, ME2 Pang said, “I look forward to all challenges because they can build up my competency for my day-to-day job, and also to become a better leader. My family is supportive and its a good talking point with my kids about my involvement in the NDP. They can share the pride and joy in our work.” Echoed ME2 Tai, “Its a good opportunity for myself to participate in this NDP and I feel that its something different from what I do in my daily work or exercises. We have to deal with multiple agencies other than the SAF, and it helps me to develop more working skills and to improve my knowledge and experience.”

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ME2 Tai Wei Jing (left) and ME2 Pang Teck Lim (right)

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