Item category 2: POINTER Articles

This essay discusses how during the American Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant managed to turn what was initially a long and costly war into a victory through excellent logistics support. According to the author, it is the superior logistics system with its vast network of supply, transport, ma...

Understanding Singapore’s strategic situation leads to a realization that air superiority and the presence of a robust air defense are vital for our survival in war. these imperatives drive our investments in air defense capabilities. to deal with the strategic need for a robust air defense syste...

Learning is a complicated and challenging process. In the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), leaders will also have the duty to constantly direct the learning process for their teams. We will need to understand the concept of knowledge and the learning process and this is reinforced by what we do ever...

This essay examines the role of mission command in managing strategic and tactical uncertainty as the Army transforms into a Third generation force. Mission command represents a decentralized command philosophy whereby superiors communicate their intent effectively and permit subordinates to crys...

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Singapore economy have been sharing a common and limited pool of human resource in the small city-state since the formation of the national defence force. To address the challenging issue of attracting talent to fill up the SAF’s ranks and succession in th...

This essay will restate the theoretical promises of airpower, provide a background to the crisis in Kosovo and explain that airpower was crucial but not singular in leading to the capitulation of Slobodan Milosevic, then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In this paper, the breaking...

There are three kinds of power, namely hard, soft and smart power which is a combination of both. Smart power is frequently associated with planned national branding, an endeavor that requires multi-agency collaboration. Whilst the SAF does not lead such an effort, it does run National Service (N...