The 2nd People's Defence Force (2 PDF) is a division of the

Singapore Army The Singapore Army is the Ground warfare, land Military branch, service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The largest of the Singapore Armed Forces#Organisation, four branches of the SAF, the Singapore Army traces its origins to the Inf ...

responsible for maintaining peace within Singapore and carrying out mainly combined arms, counterterrorism, force protection, homeland defense, homeland security, internal security, and maneuver warfare.

History

The 2nd People's Defence Force traces its origins to October 1965 when the People's Defence Force Headquarters (PDF HQ) was established as part of the

Ministry of Interior and Defence The Ministry of Interior and Defence (MID) was a ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Singapore. It was established in 1965, with Goh Keng Swee as the inaugural minister. The ministry was responsible for both internal an ...

and tasked with recruiting 3,200 volunteers to defend Singapore. In 1968, the PDF was reorganised to take on operational roles in maintaining internal security within Singapore. In May 1974, facing dwindling numbers of volunteers, the 101 People’s Defence Force Battalion (101 PDF) was formed, amalgamating various other volunteer units. On 1 April 1985, the 101 People’s Defence Force Battalion was disbanded and split between two commands, the 1st People's Defence Force (1 PDF) and 2nd People's Defence Force, the latter of which became HQ of the PDF. On 6 December 2004, 1 PDF disbanded and had its units transferred across the three combined arms divisions. After 9/11, HQ 2 PDF Command was reorganised to form the multi-agency Island Defence Headquarters (IDHQ) to protect Singapore against terrorism. They initiated operations to provide round-the-clock protection of key military and civilian installations around Singapore. In 2010, the IDHQ became the Island Defence Task Force (IDTF) and the 1st Singapore Infantry Brigade (1 SIB) was created, taking command of the 6th, 8th and 9th Battalions, Singapore Infantry Regiment (SIR). The Military Police Command,

Military Band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

and Gombak Base (

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

headquarters) came under the 2nd People's Defence Force's command in 2011. In 2015, the 2nd People's Defence Force introduced the Peacekeeper Protected Response Vehicle (PRV) to replace the V-200s previously used for island defence operations. Home to many special operators and a myriad of intra-vocational subject-matter experts, Clementi Camp is home to the Island Defence Task Force as a counterterrorism force to be reckoned with.

References

{{Singapore Armed Forces Singapore Army Formations of the Singapore Army Military units and formations established in 1965