F-16 aircraft scrambled in response to ‘potential air threat’: Mindef

SINGAPORE — The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) scrambled F-16 fighter aircraft on Saturday (Sept 11) in response to a “potential air threat”, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said in response to media queries.

The aircraft were scrambled at about 9.20am.

“After ensuring that our security was not compromised, we stood down our aircraft,” Mindef said.

It did not give further details on the air threat or the number of aircraft scrambled.

The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) said in a statement on Facebook that it was aware of social media posts claiming that its police helicopter had entered Singapore’s airspace on Saturday. 

The statement, which was in Malay, said: “RMP confirmed that there was a RMP-owned helicopter flight in the airspace near Singapore on that date, for official assignment purposes.” 

RMP added that the Singapore authorities had not notified them of a breach into the latter’s airspace. 

This was after a military aviation news portal reported that Singapore scrambled two jet fighters on learning that a Malaysian police helicopter was detected flying over Pulau Tekong on Saturday morning.

Pulau Tekong is an island near the east of Singapore that houses the nation’s Basic Military Training Centre. 

On average, the RSAF fighter aircraft are deployed to investigate and deal with 350 potential air threats each year, Mindef said in its response.