SINGAPORE — Since March, a new shooting-range complex — capable of simulating day and night conditions — has allowed National Servicemen to complete marksmanship tests in a day, instead of the current two to three days at existing outdoor ranges.

Officially launched by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen yesterday, the three-storey Multi-Mission Range Complex (MMRC) at Pasir Laba camp also saves valuable land space, as it comprises seven live-firing indoor ranges built on a land area that once housed only one outdoor 100m range.

Although there is a 100m constraint in even the longest ranges among the seven, the advanced targetry systems are able to overcome this by simulating distances of up to 1km.

As part of the safety features, all walls, ceilings and floors are lined with ballistic materials to prevent backsplash and the ricochet of bullets.

The MMRC’s facilities have also reduced training time drastically.

National Serviceman Liang Leminarrived at the complex at 9am on his day of training and completed his shoot by 1pm.

“If we go to the outdoor range, it would take the entire day,” said the lieutenant.

The ranges also allow real-time monitoring of the soldiers’ individual shooting performance, providing almost instantaneous feedback.

Although the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will close five of its existing 15 outdoor ranges by the end of next year — freeing up 22ha of land for future use — the MMRC will ensure servicemen have ample opportunity to sharpen their shooting skills.

“We are essentially a city state; we do not have real rural areas,” said Dr Ng.

“The SAF well recognises the constraints imposed by competing land use, but we must never compromise our training and operational requirements, because it will erode the vital and long-term security that our strong and ready defence provides.”

The MMRC, jointly developed by the SAF and the Defence Science and Technology Agency, is capable of generating urban and natural terrains for scenario-based training using Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).

Besides jungles and grassland, the CGI can also simulate a city environment and tricky scenarios.

“You remember that when we held the IMF (2006 International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings), it was at Suntec City,” said Dr Ng. “We could very well recreate the interior of Suntec City, so specific missions and scenarios allow them a very realistic (envisioning) of the building inside — even of the corridors.”

The MMRC has been in service for the last six months and has trained over 22,000 servicemen to date.