RSAF crew had 48 hours to prepare for repatriation flights to Saudi Arabia

SINGAPORE – When the order came down on March 6 that the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) would be extracting Singaporeans from the Middle East, a well-oiled engineering and logistics machine kicked into high gear.

Maintenance crew from ST Engineering initiated the prep work to get the A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) mission-ready, alongside soldiers from 808 Squadron – one of the engineering and logistics units responsible for the operational maintenance of RSAF assets.

For Military Expert 1 Amanda Koh, this meant carrying out reliability checks on the MRTT’s mission systems – including the plane’s avionics and defensive systems capable of countering missiles.

Meanwhile, Military Expert 5 Tamilselvan Palanisamy formulated the main logistics plan in coordination with government agencies, both local and foreign.

While the pre-flight checks were no different from the Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) other humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, what made this repatriation mission challenging was the information fog of war that the mission team had to operate under.

“For normal exercise detachments, it’s all pre-planned – we have an advance party in theatre to help you check through everything, (while in this case) it was press button and we needed to go in 48 hours. There were a lot of unknowns,” said ME5 Tamilselvan, who was in charge of the mission’s logistics, at a media briefing on March 27 following the operation’s success.

Major Simeon Chen, the mission’s commander, said that as the team went through its plans before take-off, a lot of information, such as the passenger manifest, was still up in the air.

Without SAF presence in Saudi Arabia and a fluid situation in the Middle East, coordination with foreign ground services in Riyadh and agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was crucial, he added.

“It was quite unnerving for the crew, and we really had to develop a plan that helped with the uncertainty,” he said.

The dangers that had prompted commercial carriers to cancel their flights after hostilities broke out in Iran and the region on Feb 28 – and which triggered the decision to activate the SAF – meant the team also had to consider several contingencies while monitoring the security situation throughout the mission, said the mission’s planner, Major Fong Wei Shen from the RSAF’s Air Defence and Operations Command.

Among the considerations were which military plane to deploy. The RSAF had previously said that its C-130 heavy-duty transport aircraft was critical for humanitarian assistance and transport missions.

But the MRTT has better endurance, and was able to complete the 7½-hour trip to Riyadh without having to stop to refuel, said MAJ Fong.

The decision was also made to land at Changi Airport instead of a military airbase, to ensure that passengers were able to clear immigration quickly and meet their loved ones on arrival. The operation marked the first time that the MRTT landed at Changi Airport.

The uncertainty in the Middle East also meant that while the MRTT was ready to take off by March 8, it took two more days for Singaporeans across the region to travel to the chosen airports in Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

The plane would go on to fly two repatriation flights: The March 10 flight out of Riyadh brought home 218 Singaporeans and their dependants, while the March 13 flight from Jeddah had 81 Singaporeans and their dependants, alongside foreign nationals from six other countries.

During the flight, passengers were told to expect limited cabin service and just one meal. The Ministry of Defence did not charge for the repatriation flights.

Even so, the soldiers tried to take along to Saudi Arabia some civilian comforts, such as baby bassinets.

Like the MRTT itself, whose main role in operations is to refuel other aircraft mid-air, several of the crew members took on additional responsibilities in accomplishing the mission.

ME1 Koh, for instance, helped out with cabin duties, such as preparing and handing out meals, on top of her engineering responsibilities.

All personnel deployed on the flights are regulars and maintenance personnel from defence partners.

The larger mission team included full-time national servicemen (NSFs), such as Second Sergeant Lim Dao Hao from 808 SQN, who worked on pre- and post-flight checks and refuelling.

While these tasks are among his usual duties, 2SG Lim said he was proud to have been part of an operation that few other NSFs would likely get to experience.

“Being able to make use of what I’ve been trained for to be part of this operation really makes me feel quite proud of myself,” he said.

Getting the plane ready – and also turned around within 48 hours for the second flight – also involved ST Engineering’s engineers like Mr Mohammad Effendy Abdul Rashid.

Mr Effendy said he was proud to have been called upon for the mission, even as this meant he had to work through the weekend during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“We feel very proud to have played a part in helping Singaporeans get back home to their families, and it was really, truly a team effort for us,” he said.