NDP 2025: Debuts and record numbers mark SG60

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Desmond Foo)

Source: The Straits Times

As evening fell upon the Padang, the parade and ceremony segment of the 2025 National Day Parade got under way, marking several firsts and record numbers.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) made its debut in the guard-of-honour contingent, joining the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Singapore Police Force (SPF) at the Padang.

In another first, the SAF Volunteer Corps, which featured in the 2019 and 2024 parades in combined contingents, was a full contingent in 2025.

Singapore’s 60th year of independence was celebrated with the largest assembly of marching contingents in the parade’s history – 2,100 individuals across 40 marching contingents – with a 100-piece combined band, comprising members from the SAF, SPF and schools, setting the stage with pomp and circumstance.

Embodying the Republic’s future were 10 contingents from uniformed youth organisations such as Girl Guides Singapore and Singapore Red Cross Youth.

E-commerce platform Shopee made its maiden NDP appearance alongside 17 other contingents from social and economic groups, symbolising the progress the country has made socially and economically.

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Azmi Athni)

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Gin Tay)

When Prime Minister Lawrence Wong made his entrance at the parade, his second as the country’s leader, the crowd broke out in applause and cheers.

Amid the jubilation, a 127-strong choir from Greendale Secondary School and non-profit arts organisation Voices of Singapore reminded the nation to continue pushing forward on The Road Ahead, as they performed a special arrangement of the theme song for the 2021 parade.

The crowd erupted in cheers again as President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, also attending his second NDP as the Republic’s head of state, arrived at the Padang.

Following the fly-past of the state flag and the singing of the National Anthem, the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s pilots performed an enhanced Salute to the Nation in F-15SG and F-16 fighter jets.

Away from the Padang, four 25-pounder Howitzer guns fired off the 21-Gun Presidential Gun Salute as President Tharman inspected the guard-of-honour contingents.

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Gin Tay)

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Kua Chee Siong)

The popular mobile column, returning to the Padang for the first time since 2019, was bolstered by air and maritime elements making their debut in the showcase of the Republic’s military and civil defence assets. 

Kicking this off was a multi-axis fly-past by six F-15SG fighters, flying past one another before ascending into full afterburner climbs.

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Azmi Athni)

Other aircraft soaring over the Padang as part of the column included the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport, the Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk naval helicopter and four F-16 fighters.

Meanwhile, the crowds in Marina Bay were enthralled by maritime vessels such as the navy’s autonomous Maritime Security Unmanned Surface Vessel, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s 15m-long patrol craft and White Swordfish, the SCDF’s Rapid Response Fire Vessel.

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Ong Wee Jin)

Video screens highlighted the SAF and Home Team’s contributions to global security, including humanitarian missions in quake-hit Myanmar and war-torn Gaza, as well as their coordinated defence capabilities to keep Singapore secure.

Closing the mobile column was a video highlighting the stories of men and women from the SAF and Home Team across generations.

The generational theme was represented on the ground by 10-year-old Keith Chan joining his father, Lieutenant-Colonel (NS) Alex Chan, the mobile column commander, in a Leopard 2SG main battle tank rolling down St Andrew’s Road.