Safti City high-tech urban training facility launched

SINGAPORE – Soldiers from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) now have a state-of-the-art urban training facility to hone their skills and tactics for a range of missions, including homeland security, counter-terrorism and disaster relief operations.

Safti City Phase 1, equipped with MRT stations, a 12-storey hotel, a school, malls and about 11,000 electronic sensors, was officially opened by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on March 19.

The new facility, which mimics a densely built-up town, will meet a cardinal tenet for the SAF: training stays realistic, especially as urban operations will increasingly be a requirement for any military, Dr Ng said.

The 17ha facility – roughly equivalent to the size of 24 football fields – comprises 71 buildings. Besides interconnected buildings, it has a simulated integrated transport hub with a bus interchange and MRT stations with above-ground and underground platforms occupied by actual trains that have been withdrawn from service.

This means that in a scenario where terrorists take a trainload of passengers hostage, troops can decide exactly which window to breach and enter, and how to nullify the threats, removing any guesswork or need for extrapolation, Dr Ng said.

“The physicality of this facility brings focus, and brings to bear the problems you will encounter.”

The opening of this sector of Safti City marks the realisation of over five years of deliberate planning and execution by Mindef and the SAF, he added.

Mindef said the dense layout of multiple mid- to high-rise buildings in Safti City, located in Old Choa Chu Kang Road, also increases training capacity significantly. It will allow up to six companies of soldiers (around 600 personnel) or two battalions (around 1,200 soldiers) to train there at a time.

When fully completed, Safti City will span around 88ha – about the size of Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park – and include a training area focused on island defence competencies, such as coastal defence.

At the facility, technology adds another dimension of realism for soldier training.

Chief among these technologies are about 11,000 sensors that can track the location of people inside the buildings and simulate damaged walls that have been “hit” by simulated rockets or artillery, which provide less cover for soldiers.

There are also CCTV cameras, which, together with tablet- and computer-based exercise controllers, allow playback of training missions so that trainees can be evaluated.

The sensors are installed and maintained by the Defence Science and Technology Agency, which was involved in the design of Safti City.

Some buildings in Safti City also have windows that have replaceable panels and doors that slide open to reveal a hole when a simulated heavy weapon such as a Matador rocket has been “fired” at it. This allows soldiers to repeatedly practise breaching and seizing a building.

Technology has also been tapped to simulate the enemy. The facility plays host to a variety of interactive targets, some of which are mobile, to present a more realistic threat and to complement live opposition forces fielded by other soldiers.

These, along with battlefield effects simulators that can mimic smoke and gunfire, are similar to those found

at the instrumented battle circuits in the SAF’s Murai urban training facility.

Dr Ng noted that for soldiers who had been to Safti City for training for the first time, seeing the scale and complexity of the facility – including targets that can shoot back – had “a sobering effect”.

The facility has been operational since October 2024. Since then, units such as the 5th Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment (5 SIR) and the 41st Battalion Singapore Armoured Regiment have been put through their paces there.

“It makes people very serious about training, because, yes, these are using lasers and telemetry, but if you’re not wounded physically, at least your pride is wounded,” Dr Ng said. “And you don’t want to be taken out, you don’t want to let your unit down.”

Corporal Dhinesh Raj Jayaprakasam from 5 SIR said the ability for virtual “hits” to be recorded by the laser-based tactical engagement system drove home the need for soldiers to be careful not to become “casualties” during training.

“It is the closest we can get to experiencing the conditions of actual warfare,” he said.

Apart from hostage rescue, Safti City can also be configured for other training missions, such as domestic situations where a civilian with weapons threatens his neighbour. The SAF will train together with the Home Team for such scenarios, Dr Ng said.

When asked if foreign counterparts will be invited to train at Safti City, he said the facility was mainly built to train national servicemen, who form the backbone of the SAF.

“That will be the top priority – we want them to be prepared, so that when, if ever, they are called to go on a mission, hopefully they will say, ‘Oh, I encountered this terrain before’,” he said.

“That’s a simple goal, but, I will tell you, very few militaries are able to do this level of realism.”