Singapore expected to order F-35 fighter jets

Reuters/Singapore Singapore is in the “final stages of evaluating” the F-35 to upgrade its air force, a process US sources say should turn quickly into orders for several dozen of the stealthy warplanes that have been beset by cost overruns and delivery delays. Singapore, a major business and shipping hub with the best-equipped military in Southeast Asia, is expected to submit a “letter of request” soon for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, said two US government officials who were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter. The city-state could start the process as soon as this week to buy the planes built by Lockheed Martin Corp, one of the officials said. Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, makes the engine for the F-35. Singapore’s defence minister, Ng Eng Hen, said on Tuesday the air force “has identified the F-35 as a suitable aircraft to further modernise our fleet”. “Our F-5s are nearing the end of their operational life and our F-16s are at their mid-way mark,” he said in parliament. “We are now in the final stages of evaluating the F-35.” Ng gave no timeline but said the defence ministry “will have to be satisfied that this state-of-the-art multi-role fighter meets our long-term needs, is on track to be operationally capable and, most importantly, is a cost-effective platform”. Singapore’s air force now has 24 F-15SGs, 20 F-16Cs and 40 F-16Ds, 28 F-5Ss and nine F-5Ts, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It also has 19 AH-64D Apache attack helicopters among its other assorted aircraft. The wealthy island nation of about 5.3mn people plans to spend S$12.3bn ($9.85bn) on defence in the 2013 fiscal year that starts in April, a rise of 4.3% from the previous year, the government’s budget shows. Singapore - home to a global financial centre, the world’s second-busiest container port and major energy operations - is the region’s biggest military spender, dwarfing its much larger neighbours Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. As Washington turns its economic and security attention to the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region, it is encouraging more exports of weapons such as the F-35 to strengthen links with allies and offset cuts in its own procurement programmes. Lockheed, under a $396bn programme that is already seven years behind schedule and 70% over initial cost estimates, is building three variations of the F-35 for the US military and eight international partners that are helping to fund the plane’s development. Singapore became a minor partner in the programme in 2003, along with Israel, which has ordered 19 of the jets so far. Singapore’s F-35 order is expected to include the Marine Corps’ B-model, which can take off from shorter runways and lands like a helicopter.