Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force Receives Prestigious Military Award ..

The Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force (USAF) General (GEN) Charles Q Brown Jr was conferred Singapore's prestigious military award, the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) or Meritorious Service Medal (Military) [MSM(M)], by President Halimah Yacob. Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen presented the award to GEN Brown at an investiture held at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) this morning.

As the Chief of Staff of the USAF, GEN Brown played a pivotal role in enhancing the excellent and long-standing defence relations between the USAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Under GEN Brown's sterling leadership, the USAF and the RSAF have expanded bilateral cooperation, which included collaboration on platform-specific cybersecurity, F-35 user exchanges, as well as the signing of a Letter of Understanding to promote collaborations in the areas of innovation and digitalisation. He also supported the building of interoperability between Air Forces through the conduct of exercises such as the bilateral Exercise Commando Sling, as well as the US-led Exercise Red Flag Nellis and Red Flag Alaska. GEN Brown's support for the RSAF's Peace Carvin training detachments in the Continental US, as well as the RSAF's rotational fighter deployments to Guam, has enabled the RSAF to meet training needs and sustain operational readiness.

GEN Brown is in Singapore from 7 to 10 August 2022. As part of his visit programme, GEN Brown called on Dr Ng, Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong and Chief of Air Force Major-General Kelvin Khong at MINDEF after inspecting the Guard of Honour at Bukit Panjang Camp. GEN Brown will also visit Sembawang Air Base this afternoon where he will receive a brief on the RSAF and take a familiarisation flight on board an RSAF H225M Medium Lift Helicopter.