History

Our early days

In 1968, when Britain announced her decision to pull out all her forces from the region by March 1971, Singapore had to raise an air force from scratch to quickly take over the critical role of air defence for Singapore from the Royal Air Force. There were no local operational auxiliary or volunteer air force elements functioning at that time as air force operations require highly specialised manpower, which was not readily available in Singapore

The most urgent need then was to create a nucleus of trained pilots, controllers, technical personnel and weapon operators who subsequently went on to build-up the earlier Singapore Air Defence Command that was stood up on 1 September 1968.

From our humble beginnings, generations of committed and determined airmen and women worked tirelessly over the past five decades to establish the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) – undertaking the critical mission of keeping Singapore's skies safe, and defending our home and interests.

Today, the RSAF is one of the most advanced and capable air force in the region; superior in the air, able to decisively influence the ground and maritime battles, and ready and capable of taking on different types of operations from peace-to-war.

Learn more about the history of the RSAF here

Significant events in RSAF history (1968 to present)