All in the Numbers

The Singapore Government will order 16 Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracals and 10 Boeing CH-47F Chinooks, all of which will be delivered from 2020. Although the Ministry of Defence announced the order last November, numbers were not specified and were only revealed in the latest Stockholm International Peace Research Institute arms transfer database, released in late February 2017. The same report also revealed that the two additional Sikorsky S-70B Seahawks ordered in 2013 have been delivered.

The CH-47F Chinooks will eventually replace six CH-47Ds based at Dallas- Redmond Taylor Army Helicopter Port in Texas for the Peace Prairie detachment, while the four additional CH-47Fs might be based at Oakey in Australia where the Republic of Singapore Air Force operates a training detachment for its AS332 and AS532 Super Pumas. The 16 H225M Caracals will eventually replace two squadrons of 32 Super Pumas.