THE stuff of a great action movie would, in reality, be Singapore's worst nightmare.

This year's National Day Parade will feature a 15-minute, four-part Total Defence Display (TDD) segment that promises to wow the action movie buffs in the crowd - and show how the Singapore Armed Forces and Home Team would respond to such events.

It simulates terrorist attacks involving chemical and bomb threats, mined waterways, and terrorists attempting to infiltrate Singapore by land and sea. It is themed 'Defending Our Homeland'.

The display will pull in more than 300 personnel from the army, navy, air force, police and civil defence force, who have trained since April to showcase their operational readiness come Aug 9.

The display, titled One Show, is the second chapter of the planned 10-chapter parade.

TDD chairman Simon Lee likened the display to a 'short action-packed movie'. It will integrate videos, music and pyrotechnic effects to provide a 'multi-sensory experience'.

The cue to its start will be a 'live' news broadcast that will flash on the LED screen about 45 minutes into the parade.

As the stage fills with smoke and collapsing 'casualties', the police, Hazmat and Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams will flood in and dispose of a 'suspicious package'.

All eyes will be directed next to the bay front around the floating platform, where vessels from the Police Coast Guard and the navy close in on terrorists on jetskis and a boat.

Cut back to another news report of mines in Singapore's waterways, which will segue into a Chinook helicopter hovering above the bay to drop naval divers into the water to clear the mines.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.