Item category 2: POINTER Articles

Professional Excellence is the epitome of success for military professionals. This essay explores the attainment of professional excellence by the Army Engineer who ensures that our Army’s equipment is safe, reliable, maintainable and operational. The Army Engineer is the combat force multiplier ...

The author focuses on the unique characteristics of sea power and its strategic utility. In this essay, he defines sea power with reference to Alfred Thayer Mahan, an American historian and naval officer who was an expert on sea power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He then discusses t...

Singapore’s geographical and population limitations have seen the Singapore Armed Forces develop its military into an all-encompassing, multi-faceted defence force capable of fulfilling Singapore’s defence policy of diplomacy and deterrence. While this policy has indeed presided over a successful...

Until the introduction of the air dimension in the early 1900s, wars have primarily been fought either on land or sea. Air battle has since offered a third dimension in warfighting, without the need to deploy huge force, unlike the typical conventional land or sea battles. It is unique in its abi...

Sun Tzu and Clausewitz are both known to be most recognised and proficient writers on the subject of war and strategies. Although they wrote in different times and were from different backgrounds, their philosophies on war and strategy are still proven to be extremely helpful and effective in cur...

Living in an age where technology offers unprecedented access to real-time information within the tips of our fingers, the days of secrecy will soon be gone. The increasing transparency and rapidly emerging communications technology have made information superiority now a perishable commodity. Tr...

Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) is usually part of a broader counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency or law enforcement effort. According to the author, counter-insurgency is designed to combine both lethal and non-lethal actions to crumble insurgent networks. He explains the purpose of...

The use of anticipatory military actions or pre-emptive forces by states in the name of self-defence has long been a controversial decision that has elicited further analysis by the masses. Anticipatory attacks refer to any form of self-defence that is exercised before the enemy is able to impact...

Since Singapore’s independence in 1965, protecting her land and sovereignty have remained crucial priorities of the Singapore government. Due to her inherent lack of natural resources, the Singapore Armed Forces has adopted the strategy of Deterrence and Diplomacy through the five pillars of Tota...