While most of us were still soundly asleep on a nice Saturday morning, the Republic of Singapore Air Force scrambled two F-16s after a helicopter from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) had entered Singapore’s airspace.
The Augusta Westland AW139 helicopter, with the call sign 9M-PMD, entered Singapore’s airspace while en route to Pengerang. The aircraft flew across Pulau Tekong, where the Singapore army conducts basic military training. It was said that a VIP, Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order director, Datuk Hazani Ghazali was onboard the aircraft.
Two armed F-16s were then deployed from Tengah Airbase and had circled above Paya Lebar Airbase. Both aircraft returned after confirming that there was no threat.
Flight record from FlightRadar24 shows that the helicopter did enter Singapore’s airspace at around 9:11AM.
PDRM has confirmed that the incident took place and had issued a statement after news of the incident was shared widely on social media.
Feature image credit: Teo Chee Yong / Facebook