Singapore Armoured Regiment


The Singapore Armoured Regiment is a formation of the Singapore Army responsible for armoured warfare. Armour provides mobile firepower support and rapid mobility for the Army by helping to spearhead an advance past the enemies defences and seizing and holding key objectives on the battlefield. Armour also acts as an active deterrent towards any possible aggressors. Armour is known to act swiftly as they can be deployed at a moment's notice to dominate the battlefield, hence their motto: Swift and Decisive.

History

The Singapore Army's first armoured unit, 40 Singapore Armoured Regiment , was formed in November 1968. In that year, the Army decided to purchase the V-200 Commando vehicles and AMX-13 tanks. 41 SAB was formed to operate AMX-13 tanks in 1969 and was the first armour unit to be equipped with the tanks. The V-200 Commando vehicles were shared between 40 and 41 SAB.
That same year, 40 SAB thrilled the crowd at the Singapore National Day Parade in a drive-past of 18 tanks to salute the President of Singapore. HQ Armour has since organised armour column drive-pasts during the National Day Parades of 1978, 1982, 1984, 1993, 2002 & 2010. Additionally, during every National Day Parade, men of the formation are given the honour of the Presidential Lance Guards who will form up upon the President's arrival and departure. They carry lances with a pennon that features the insignia of the Armour formation attached beneath the spearhead. This tradition is modelled after the knights of old, who would form up to protect their king.
The AMX-13 which was acquired back in 1969 was upgraded to the AMX-13 SM1 in 1988.
In July 1970, with the creation of 4 SAB, 40 & 41 were re-flagged as 40 SAR & 41 SAR respectively. Two further armoured units were created: 42 SAR in 1971 & 46 SAR in 1976. With the inception of full-time national service in 1967, 40 SAR received her first mono intake in March 1970 while 41 SAR received hers in July 1970.
In 1973, the formation acquired the M113 to replace the V-200 Commando, which was further upgraded to the M113A2 Ultra IFV in 1993 to keep up with the modern age.
The Regimental Colours of 40, 41 and 42 SAR were presented by President Benjamin Sheares at Selarang Camp on 6 September 1977. 46 SAR’s Regimental Colours were presented to them on 29 October 1991. 48 SAR's Regimental Colours was presented by President Tony Tan on 1 July 2013 at that year's SAF day parade.
In 2006, it was announced that the AMX-13 SM1 Tanks would be replaced with Germany's Leopard 2A4 Main Battle Tanks.
The formation also adopted the Black Beret as its official headdress, which is recognised traditionally as a symbol of an armoured unit.
In the Singapore Armed Forces Best Unit Competition, only 5 Armour units have won the title of Best Combat Unit: 41 SAR, 42 SAR & 40 SAR.

Structure

There are currently 3 armoured infantry battalions in its operational structure: 40 SAR, 41 SAR & 42 SAR.
There is another additional tank battalion, 48 SAR. There are also a number of NS Reserve battalions that are activated during reservist recalls. NS SAR units are numbered in three-digit formats to distinguish them from active units.
An armoured infantry battalion is made up of 5 companies: HQ coy, 3 combat coys and a support coy.
While on operation, each combat team will be attached with a vehicle maintenance and Pioneer section. The ATGM & Mortar elements can be attached to either combat company at their commanders direction depending on mission profiles.
Armoured Infantry battalions share similar traits with their regular infantry counterparts. However, each section of an A.I. platoon has their own individual armoured tracked platform and A.I. platoons carry more firepower when dismounted as compared to regular infantry platoons. A.I platoons also specialise in conducting water-body crossing with their armoured platforms by flotation devices.
During training or operations, external units, such as the Combat Engineers' Armoured vehicle-launched bridge and mine clearance vehicles or the Artillery's self-propelled howitzers, can be attached to the armour battalions as needed. When required by the nature of operations, heavy tanks can also be attached to the A.I. battalions.

Units

Brigades


Battalions
The Armour Creed details the motto of the Armour "Swift and Decisive" and the roles Armour plays within the Army.

Equipment

Units within the Regiment use a wide range of vehicles, supporting its scope of armoured combat and engineering missions. This includes locally developed armoured platforms such as the Bionix IFV, Hunter AFV and Bronco ATTC, as well as procured overseas equipment upgraded to fit local operation context.

Training

There are two main combat vocations within Armour: Tank Operator and Armoured Infantry. Each personnel’s vocation varies depending on which unit he is posted to. Tank operators will be trained to maintain and fire the tank, while armoured infanteers will be trained in basic infantry and armoured warfare tactics.
The Armour formation's main training institute is called the Armour Training Institute, in Sungei Gedong Camp, which trains and evaluates all active and NS Armour
units.
The four schools under ATI are:
ATI maintains a combat armoured infantry company containing three platoons to play the role of aggressors, otherwise known as OPFOR, against active and reserve units during ATEC evaluation. Their role is to simulate a real enemy force through the use of the battlefield instrumentation system.

Exercise

The formation conducts numerous overseas training exercises for its armour units to practice due to lack of manoeuvre area in Singapore.