What is the exact name of the confrontation at whose end the last V bombers were withdrawn in 1966?
In 1958, the Singapore strategy was revived in the form of Operation Mastodon, a plan to deploy V bombers of RAF Bomber Command equipped with nuclear weapons to Singapore as part of Britain's contribution to the defence of the region under Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Once again, there were formidable logistical problems. As the V bombers could not fly all the way to Singapore, a new staging base was developed at RAF Gan in the Maldives. RAF Tengah's runway was too short for V bombers, so RAF Butterworth had to be used until it could be lengthened. The basing of nuclear armed aircraft, and the stockpiling of nuclear weapons without consultation with the local authorities soon ran into political complications.Mastodon called for the deployment of two squadrons of eight Handley Page Victors to Tengah and one of eight Avro Vulcans to Butterworth. The British nuclear stockpile consisted of only 53 nuclear weapons in 1958, most of which were of the old Blue Danube type, but plans called for 48 of the new, lighter Red Beard tactical nuclear weapons to be stored at Tengah when they became available, so each V bomber could carry two. Up to 48 Red Beards were secretly stowed in a highly secured weapons storage facility at RAF Tengah, between 1962 and 1971, for possible use by the V bomber force detachment and for Britain's military commitment to SEATO.In the meantime, the Royal Navy deployed the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious with Red Beards and nuclear-capable Supermarine Scimitars to the Far East in 1960. As with the original Singapore strategy, there were doubts as to whether 24 V bombers could be spared in the event of a crisis dire enough to require them, especially after China's acquisition of nuclear weapons in 1964. As the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation heated up in 1963, Bomber Command sent detachments of Victors and Vulcans to the Far East. Over the next three years, four V bombers were permanently stationed there, with squadrons in the United Kingdom rotating detachments. In April 1965, No. 35 Squadron RAF carried out a rapid deployment of its eight Vulcans to RAAF Butterworth and RAF Tengah. Air Chief Marshal Sir John Grandy reported that the V bombers "provided a valuable deterrent to confrontation being conducted on a large scale".In 1965, racial, political, and personal tensions led to Singapore seceding from Malaysia and becoming an independent country. With the end of the confrontation, the last V bombers were withdrawn in 1966. The following year, the British government announced its intention to withdraw its forces from East of Suez. The Singapore Naval Base was handed over to the government of Singapore on 8 December 1968, and Sembawang Shipyard subsequently became the basis of a successful ship repair industry. The Red Beards were returned to the UK via the US in 1971.
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation