TRAINING OF SAF PERSONNEL (SAFETY MEASURES)

Mr S. Chandra Das asked the Minister of Defence and Second Minister for Health whether he is satisfied with the measures being taken by the three Services to ensure the safety of SAF personnel undergoing training, especially flying training.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Safety is always a major concern of the SAF. A good safety record is the product of a well run armed force. Competent commanders must design carefully conceived training programmes, to put troops through difficult missions in a graduated sequence. Demanding exercises must yield training value without endangering soldiers, and stringent monitoring must make sure everything goes as planned. Training safety is the hallmark of professionalism.

The SAF has undertaken many specific measures to promote safety. Comprehensive training safety regulations are published, so that officers need not depend on experience and memory alone when conducting training. For certain units, such as airbases, and for all units during live firing exercises, safety officers are specifically nominated. They have no other responsibilities than to keep constant watch over the training troops. Their job is to stop any one from being carried away by the excitement of the moment, and doing something unsafe. In addition, the Services have inspectorate teams who monitor training activities, so that the headquarters staff will know quickly if anything is going wrong. If an accident does happen, prompt investigation and swift follow-up action ensure that any shortcomings revealed in our procedures and practices are put right.

Such measures promote safety, but they cannot guarantee that accidents will never happen. When training for war, men and machines are pushed to the limits of their endurance. While the greatest care must be taken to see that they are not pushed accidentally beyond the limits, this must not be done at the expense of training standards. Realistic training must continue, because inadequately trained troops will suffer needless casualties in war. We cannot water down SAF training.

These observations apply particularly to flying training and operations. The margins for error are finer, the consequences of mistakes are graver, and the risks are ever present. Yet we cannot stop flying. We must fly, but with competent pilots, in well maintained aircraft.

Our pilot selection and training procedures are rigorous, and are constantly being improved. Only the best become fighter pilots. After they have been trained, they are required to maintain their skills at a high standard, so that they do not unwittingly hazard their aircraft or their lives in the air.

Even the best pilots in the world can only fly safely if their aircraft are airworthy. The engine, the avionics, the weapon systems on board an aircraft, all must be conscientiously and meticulously maintained. This is the responsibility of engineers, technicians and ground crew, the large support staff required to put one pilot in the air. We have kept abreast of maintenance practices in other air forces, and have modified our own procedures and inspection routines to make increasingly certain that when an aircraft takes off, it is serviceable.

MINDEF constantly monitors the accident rates of the various types of RSAF aircraft for indications of possible safety problems. So far, the trends have been reassuring. MINDEF intends to keep it that way.