RSAF To Get New Chief In March

Singapore—The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will get a new chief on March 22 as Maj. Gen. Kelvin Khong passes the baton to Brig. Gen. Kelvin Fan. Although not the first non-pilot to serve as chief, Fan will be the RSAF’s ground-based, air defense-trained chief of the air force.

Fan currently holds the appointment of deputy secretary of policy with Singapore’s Ministry of Defence.

Fan joined the Singapore Armed Forces in 1998 and since then has held a numbers of positions in the RSAF, including: commanding officer of 163 Sqdn.; head of the Air Plans department; director of the Defence Policy Office; head of the Air Operations department; Commander of Air Defense and Operations Command; Chief of Staff for the Air Staff; and Chief of Staff for the Joint Staff.

The 163 Sqdn. is the unit that operated the I-HAWK and now the MBDA Aster-30 surface-to-air missiles.

Khong has held the top role in the RSAF since March 2019, a tenure that encompassed acquisition of the Lockheed Martin F-35B and the attainment of full operational capabilities for both the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft and the Aster-30 Ground-Based Air Defense system.