They will be training to fly Singapore's newest fighter jet, the F-15SG
By
Jermyn Chow
USAF instructor Major Chris Kreske of the 333rd Fighter Squadron watching as Lieutenant-Colonel Lim Chee Meng of the RSAF settles into the cockpit of an F-15E Strike Eagle. Maj Kreske accompanied Lt-Col Lim when he piloted the warplane for the first time. -- PHOTO: GOLDSBORO NEWS-ARGUS
THE first pilots and maintenance crews assigned to Singapore's newest warplane, the F-15SG, have arrived in Idaho, where they will train and live for at least the next two years.
According to a news bulletin put out by the Air Combat Command of the United States Air Force (USAF), the men and women from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) started arriving in the US Mountain Home airbase late last month, with their families in tow.
The Oct 1 article reported that the RSAF personnel are in the midst of setting up the 428th Fighter Squadron, expected to turn operational next April.
That is when Singapore's first 12 F-15 fighter jets - still being built at Boeing's plant in St Louis, Missouri - will be delivered to the airbase.
The first aircraft bearing the RSAF colours will be unveiled next month.
Singapore has ordered 24 F-15SGs, the latest variant of the all-weather aircraft. These planes have chalked up an impressive combat record of 101 victories and zero losses around the world.
The training unit will house the new-generation, multi-role fighter jets, along with 307 pilots and ground crew, as well as their families.
The article said the training arrangement could last from five to 20 years.
The Idaho detachment mirrors earlier arrangements undertaken for warplanes and helicopters that Singapore has bought from the US.
Others include the RSAF F-16 fighter squadrons that are based in Arizona. AH-64D Apache attack helicopters are currently using a base in Arizona.
As work begins to get the squadron off the ground and into the air by next year, 16 RSAF pilots have - for the first time - thundered across American skies, blazing a trail in their twin-seat fighters.
They flew the USAF's F-15E Strike Eagle jets in late August in North Carolina, as reported by Goldsboro News-Argus, a US community newspaper.
Defence analysts have said that training in the US would allow RSAF pilots to master the new warplane quickly, in less congested airspace, flying over training areas many times bigger than Singapore.
In a recent interview with the county's newspaper, Mountain Home mayor Tom Rist said: 'I think the thing that will be the biggest change for them will be our wide open spaces. They're not used to anything like that at all.'
