This year’s aerial display at the Singapore Airshow will include a unusual joint performance between a Republic of Singapore Air Force Boeing F-15SG fighter and AH-64D Apache attack helicopter.
The RSAF display is not the first time the RSAF has conducted a display with dissimilar aircraft. It conducted joint aerial displays with the F-15SG and Lockheed Martin F-16 in 2012, and with the F-16 and McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk in years past.
This is the first time the force has paired the F-15 with the Apache, although it conducted a joint display with the F-16 and Apache in 2010.
Manoeuvres the pair will conduct in close proximity include the F-15 making a high-g force turn while the AH-64D conducts a tight combat turn before hovering at the centre of the viewing area, a high speed pass, and one where the F-15 approaches the helicopter from the rear before going into spiraling vertical climb.
The RSAF claims also to have invented an all new manoeuvre, the “vertical punch.” The first manoeuvre in the pair’s routine, this sees the F-15 pass over the AH-64D before reefing into a vertical climb. Meanwhile, the helicopter flips up and pulls around.
The show includes several independent manoeuvres for each aircraft, including one where the AH-64D swivels its 30MM cannon.
Other military aircraft performing in the flying display include a USAF C-17, USAF F-16, a French air force Dassault Rafale, and a Malaysian air force Sukhoi Su-30MKM. The Black Eagles display team of South Korea’s air force will also conduct a display with their Korea Aerospace Industries T-50Bs – a variant of the T-50 trainer.
The only commercial aircraft conducting an aerial display this year is the Airbus A350 XWB.
On Tuesday 16 February the display will run from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. On the 17th and 18th it will run from 11:30am to 12:30pm.
The airshow site’s proximity to Changi International Airport reduce the time allowed for aerial displays.
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Source: FlightGlobal.com
