BREAKING: The State Department has approved the sale of up to 12 F-35 fighter jets to Singapore

[Get Ya Wig Split]

Singapore gets the green light to buy F-35s [CHINA IN SHAMBLES]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Thursday formally approved Singapore to become the next customer of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, paving the way for a future sale.

Last year, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen announced that the country would submit a letter of request to the U.S. government to purchase four F-35B short takeoff and landing jets, with the intention of a total of 12 "B" models.

The U.S. State Department endorsement made Jan. 9 would allow Singapore to move ahead with purchasing those jets, at an estimated cost of $2.75 billion, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Also included in the proposed deal are up to 13 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, unspecified electronic warfare and communications systems, training equipment, and the Autonomic Logistics Information System used for mission planning, maintenance and other logistics functions.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1215556166991806464

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States. Singapore is a strategic friend and Major Security Cooperation Partner and an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia Pacific region,” DSCA stated in a release.

“This proposed sale of F-35s will augment Singapore's operational aircraft inventory and enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground self-defense capability, adding to an effective deterrence to defend its borders and contribute to coalition operations with other allied and partner forces.”

Singapore typically buys its fighter aircraft in small batches. If the country moves forward with buying the F-35, it will likely use those jets to begin replacing its fleet of 60 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 52/52+ fighters, and further F-35 orders would be expected.

A contract with Lockheed Martin would make Singapore the 12th country to buy the F-35, following Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. Canada, a partner of the F-35 program, has not yet committed to buying jets, while Turkey was booted from the program last summer over its decision to field a Russian S-400 air defense system.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/01/09/singapore-gets-the-green-light-to-buy-f-35s/

Democracy and freedom will prevail!

@F-22Raptor @Hamartia Antidote @FedererExpress @OCguy

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

Everyone from East to West is buying the F-35. What's it's equivalent who can't get the F-35?

There appears to be a vacuum created but no one (China / Russia) is taking advantage of it.

 

[Get Ya Wig Split]

Ten Reasons The F-35 Fighter Is Poised To Have A Super Year In 2020

The F-35 fighter program continues its march towards dominance of the global market for tactical aircraft. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have all declared their versions of the plane operational, as have Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

The stealthy F-35, designed to be versatile and affordable, is rapidly becoming the global standard for tactical air power. No other fighter program approaches its scale or acceptance among the world’s militaries. That is great news for companies like BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and United Technologies, each of which counts F-35 as its biggest military program.

Having been associated with airframe prime contractor Lockheed Martin and several other corporate participants on F-35 since the program’s inception, I can remember the years when critics were assailing F-35 from all sides and its survival was by no means assured. Those times now seem long gone. Here is a brief compendium of facts explaining why 2020 will likely be another banner year for the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program.

Nearly 500 aircraft delivered. The ramp-up of F-35 production for domestic and foreign users continues. After producing only 66 planes during the first year of the Trump presidency and 91 during 2018, last year the program assembled 131 fighters in three variants. The plan in future years, already covered by signed commitments from the U.S. and foreign governments, is for over 140 F-35s in 2020, 160 in 2021, and over 170 in 2022. Last year was the third year in a row Lockheed met or exceeded its production goals.

Prices falling steadily. Every new production lot of the F-35 costs less per plane than the previous one, and less than government estimators predicted. Under an agreement signed with the Pentagon last year, the average price of each fighter will fall 12-13% between 2019 and 2022. The most common variant of F-35 will cost less to build in future years than the far less capable fighters it is replacing. The most expensive variant of F-35—the Marine vertical-takeoff fighter—now costs less to build ($108 million) than the cheapest list price quoted for a Boeing 737 jetliner ($122 million).

Meeting performance goals. F-35 far exceeds the survivability and lethality of legacy fighters it replaces in air-to-air, air-to-ground, electronic warfare, and intelligence-gathering missions. These performance features have been verified in over 240,000 hours of flight. In military exercises F-35 typically defeats over 20 adversary aircraft for every loss it takes, thanks to the inability of opposing aircraft to track it and the pilot’s unprecedented situational awareness.

Readiness rising continuously. The mission-capable rate of U.S.-operated F-35s rose from 55% in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 73% a year later. For the entire global fleet, including foreign users, the increase during the same period was from 45% to 65%. The aircraft’s main engine, built by the Pratt & Whitney unit of United Technologies, is achieving a mission-capable rate of over 95%, exceeding program reliability goals. Lockheed Martin has offered the government a life-cycle sustainment proposal that would guarantee an 80% mission-capable rate for F-35s at a price no greater than the cost of sustaining last-generation fighters. 80% is the government’s objective for all tactical aircraft.

A thousand pilots trained. As the year began, 975 F-35 pilots had been trained, as had 8,585 maintainers proficient in keeping the fighter ready for combat. The number of trained pilots and maintainers continues rising, while the number of bases around the world at which they are stationed has risen to over 20.

Operated by nine nations. Nine countries are now operating F-35 on their home soil. All three domestic military services receiving F-35 and several foreign military services have declared the fighter operational. In fact, four services have conducted combat operations using the fighter, including Israeli air operations over Syria and other neighboring countries.

Lower cost per flying hour. As production and performance risks have been retired, attention has turned increasingly to operational affordability. The Air Force has set a goal of reducing the cost per flight hour by $6,500—an objective it sees as critical to sustaining all 1,763 F-35s it plans to purchase. Lockheed Martin is already nearly halfway to that goal as a result of various savings initiatives being implemented. The company’s performance-based logistics proposal would guarantee an 80% mission-capable rate at a cost per flight hour of no more than $25,000. Attaining desired savings depends partly on the government taking a more flexible approach to supporting the aircraft.

Supply shortages abating. Maintaining an adequate supply of spare parts is usually a challenge when fielding new military aircraft. In October of 2018 37% of F-35s in the global fleet (allied planes included) were not mission-capable due to supply shortages. By the end of 2019 that figure had been reduced to 17%. Not coincidentally, the portion of F-35s rated mission-capable in the global fleet has risen during the same period from less than half to two-thirds. Over 90% of parts used on the fighter are performing at or above planned reliability.

Export sales growing. As production increases, a growing number of F-35s are destined for overseas customers such as Australia and Israel. Nearly 40% of the 478 fighters to be built under a $34 billion procurement agreement signed last year will be used by overseas allies. Meanwhile Lockheed Martin continues to meet success in seeking new foreign customers. A large number of the 220,000 domestic jobs sustained by the program are tied to foreign sales. The F-35’s main engine alone supports over 27,000 U.S. jobs.

Risks shifting to contractors. Under the performance-based logistics concept Lockheed Martin has proposed to the government, much of the cost risk associated with F-35 life-cycle sustainment would shift to industry. The company is offering a fixed price well below the projected cost for keeping the F-35 in a high state of readiness, and has begun competing suppliers to achieve improved pricing on key components. Government cost avoidance associated with the public-private partnership Lockheed envisions will likely prove irresistible during a period of flat to declining defense budgets.

To summarize, the F-35 program is progressing rapidly, and looks poised to dominate tactical aircraft markets for the foreseeable future. Although some challenges remain, mainly on the logistics side, the world’s biggest weapons program at this point looks to be a smashing success. 2020 should be another banner year.

Several companies with a major stake in the F-35 program contribute to my think tank. Two are consulting clients.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorent...ed-to-have-a-super-year-in-2020/#5e9044737510

 

[DavidSling]

Singapore gets the green light to buy F-35s [CHINA IN SHAMBLES]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Thursday formally approved Singapore to become the next customer of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, paving the way for a future sale.

Last year, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen announced that the country would submit a letter of request to the U.S. government to purchase four F-35B short takeoff and landing jets, with the intention of a total of 12 "B" models.

The U.S. State Department endorsement made Jan. 9 would allow Singapore to move ahead with purchasing those jets, at an estimated cost of $2.75 billion, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Also included in the proposed deal are up to 13 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, unspecified electronic warfare and communications systems, training equipment, and the Autonomic Logistics Information System used for mission planning, maintenance and other logistics functions.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1215556166991806464

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States. Singapore is a strategic friend and Major Security Cooperation Partner and an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia Pacific region,” DSCA stated in a release.

“This proposed sale of F-35s will augment Singapore's operational aircraft inventory and enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground self-defense capability, adding to an effective deterrence to defend its borders and contribute to coalition operations with other allied and partner forces.”

Singapore typically buys its fighter aircraft in small batches. If the country moves forward with buying the F-35, it will likely use those jets to begin replacing its fleet of 60 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 52/52+ fighters, and further F-35 orders would be expected.

A contract with Lockheed Martin would make Singapore the 12th country to buy the F-35, following Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. Canada, a partner of the F-35 program, has not yet committed to buying jets, while Turkey was booted from the program last summer over its decision to field a Russian S-400 air defense system.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/01/09/singapore-gets-the-green-light-to-buy-f-35s/

Democracy and freedom will prevail!

Congratz to Singapore!

 

[Get Ya Wig Split]

Stock market is roaring

https://twitter.com/x/status/1215651094229135360

 

[pakpride00090]

Singapore has enemies ?

 

[fitpOsitive]

Everyone from East to West is buying the F-35. What's it's equivalent who can't get the F-35?

There appears to be a vacuum created but no one (China / Russia) is taking advantage of it.

Economies ko lassan lagay hoay hain, who will buy.
I mean one F35 costs a fortune.

 

[Indos]

Singapore has enemies ?

That acquisition is actually not intended to China as China doesnt pose any threat to Singapore what so ever. Singapore always has some kind of insecurity feeling toward Indonesia and that is why Singapore spend much of its government budget into building up its military. Singapore also spread their military, particularly Air force, so that it can still strike after that city getting heavily bombed. This is the reason Singapore has so many tanker aircraft.

That 4-12 F 35 is just a start to prepare more induction of that jet.

This is what Singapore is prepared for:

S’pore must be a ‘poisonous shrimp’ to survive in a world of ‘big fish’, LKY said in 1966
Diplomacy is insufficient.

LKY speech in 1966

In 1966, Lee Kuan Yew gave a speech at the University of Singapore speaking about Singapore’s place in the world.

In his speech, he quoted a Chinese proverb: “Big fish eat small fish; small fish eat shrimps”.

There are different types of shrimps, he said. Some develop defence mechanisms while others are poisonous: “If you eat them, you will get digestive upsets.”

Given the size of other countries and their military capabilities, Singapore was merely a shrimp in the global sea.

According to him, we had to at least become a poisonous shrimp. If not, we may very well be absorbed by the “bigger fish”.


Political context at that time

Shortly after Lee made that speech, National Service started a year later in 1967.

As a newly-independent nation that was two years old, Singapore experienced great vulnerabilities that necessitated a citizen army.

And on top of that, political vulnerabilities with our neighbours — such as Konfrontasi with Indonesia and separation from Malaysia — fuelled our insecurity.

A solution to this precarious position was for Singapore to build up a capable military force by relying on whatever resources available to us.

The goal, ultimately, was to show Singapore is capable of retaliation and to deny the success of an offensive attack.

https://mothership.sg/2018/06/singapore-poisonous-shrimp-lee-kuan-yew-foreign-policy/

 

[LeGenD]

Dayum...

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Everyone from East to West is buying the F-35. What's it's equivalent who can't get the F-35?

There appears to be a vacuum created but no one (China / Russia) is taking advantage of it.

I think militaries are sold just looking at the helmet HUD and see-thru your aircraft ability.

 

[Mista]

Commentary: The road to getting the F-35s up and ready for Singapore

MELBOURNE: As history has shown us, it is one thing for militaries to buy advanced, high-tech weaponry that look good at national parades, it is another to be able to use it effectively and decisively when push comes to shove.

From the decisive defeats Israel inflicted on the well-equipped Arab armies in 1967 and 1973, to the Saudi-led coalition’s ongoing struggle to defeat Houthi insurgents in Yemen despite the oil-rich kingdom being the world’s top arms importer between 2014 and 2018 - there is ample evidence showing militaries need to focus on adequately training and integrating new platforms to become an effective fighting force.

The challenge of gaining proficiency on, and integrating a new, technologically advanced platform is not new to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).

Singapore’s impending purchase of the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter will however present a new test of the SAF’s ability to successfully do so.

That purchase moved one step closer to reality when the US Department of Defence announced an approval of a sale of up to 12 F-35s and related equipment to Singapore on Friday (Jan 10).

A GAME-CHANGING FIGHTER JET

As has been described before, the F-35 suite of stealthy networking capabilities will be a game-changer, with the potential to radically transform how militaries operate not just in the air but in the land and sea domains as well.

The F-35B variant, which Singapore has requested to purchase, has also a lift fan, essentially a second engine that directs additional thrust downwards, that allows the fighter jet to take off and land vertically, without the need for a long runway.

For land-scarce Singapore, merging three airbases into two in the near future, this added capability will give the country a needed boost in its air power generation capabilities.

READ: F-35: How the fifth-generation fighter jet can take RSAF to the next level
READ: Commentary: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will change the rules of the air power game

Coupled with the SAF’s push in recent years to transform itself into a networked force, the need to fully utilise the F-35’s game-changing technology and ensure it is fully integrated into the SAF will take on an added layer of importance and potential complexity.

So how would the F-35’s introduction to service look like?

THE TRAINING NEEDED TO GET PILOTS UP TO SPEED

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen has previously said Singapore’s F-16s will start to be phased out around 2030.

By this time, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF)’s future F-35 pilots would have started training on the jet, with Singapore’s first handful of aircraft having already been delivered, almost certainly at an overseas training detachment.

At first glance, the prime candidate for this training detachment would appear to be Luke Air Force Base just outside of Phoenix, Arizona.

The base is where the RSAF’s Peace Carvin II F-16 training detachment is located, having been there continually over more than two decades, and is also where the US Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command will train American and international F-35 pilots for the foreseeable future.

However, the USAF and most international users will operate the conventional take-off and landing F-35A variant.

Hence, it might make more sense to set up a training detachment at one of the US Marine Corps’ bases, given that the Marines are the service operating the F-35B and the RSAF can leverage on their experience on the unique capabilities of the F-35B – the same model the UK and Italy employ, and which Japan has also ordered.

Between 2015 and last August, the UK Royal Air Force operated a small detachment of its aircraft alongside a Marine F-35B training squadron at Marine Combat Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort in South Carolina for crew training purposes, before heading back home last year.

READ: Singapore, US sign agreement for RSAF training detachment in Guam
Given that the infrastructure, such as simulators and other support equipment at bases like Beaufort (or MCAS Yuma in Arizona where the Marines will also be basing F-35Bs at) will be specific to the F-35B, the case for the RSAF setting up a training detachment at these bases is stronger than anywhere else.

Training may also involve partnership programmes with friendly air forces that have purchased the F-35B variant – which on top of the US and UK, include Italy and Australia, countries that the RSAF have very friendly ties with and have training spaces in or made training deployments to.

READ: At Pearce Base in Australia, RSAF personnel and their families find a home away from home

THE ROAD TO FULL OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY

The setting up of an overseas training detachment will be followed by the first aircraft heading back to Singapore, to form the nucleus of the first locally-based RSAF F-35 squadron.

The next major milestone for the squadron would be attaining Initial Operational Capability (IOC) with the F-35.

The criteria for IOC would be determined by the RSAF and differ from other operators, but it would likely be pegged to a certain number of aircraft delivered, the number of air and ground crew trained to perform an initial set of missions and roles, and the ability to deploy a pre-determined number of aircraft for operations.

Full operational capability (FOC) for the F-35 will follow, which is typically declared a few years after IOC.

By this time, the first RSAF squadron would have received its full complement of aircraft, a cadre of crew trained to carry out the full range of missions and the platform integrated into the RSAF.

The F-35 will have been integrated into Singapore’s Island Air Defence Network, a locally developed systems-of systems network that enables all air defence sensors and platforms to be linked under a single communication protocol.

The RSAF will also almost certainly have taken part in overseas exercises with the F-35 by this time, for benchmarking and interoperability training with foreign partners, in addition to integration training within the SAF itself.

Given the RSAF’s cautious entry into the F-35 programme following a history of development delays and cost overruns, the path towards IOC and FOC will have been well-trodden by other operators by the time it is Singapore’s turn, which will help the RSAF in gaining an understanding of how to tailor its own processes.

Using the Boeing F-15SG Eagle as a rough guide, the first RSAF jet arrived at the Peace Carvin V detachment at Mountain Home, Idaho in the US in May 2009, followed by the arrival of the first jets in Singapore in April 2010 to form the nucleus of 149 Squadron at Paya Lebar Airbase. The squadron then declared FOC in October 2013.

It is however by no means certain that the introduction of the F-35 will follow a similar timeframe. The time taken to reach the IOC and FOC milestones is dependent on several different variables, and the integration of the F-35 into the SAF may well be very different from its predecessors, given its complex suite of capabilities.

RENOVATED BASE INFRASTRUCTURE

Singapore’s air bases will also change with the arrival of the F-35 in Singapore. This goes beyond the base realignment that has already been announced so far, which will see Paya Lebar Air Base close in the 2030s to free up land for other uses and the aircraft, equipment and personnel moved to the expanded Tengah and Changi East airbases.

Work at whichever base(s) the RSAF’s F-35s will be stationed at will also need to take into account US security requirements for F-35 basing.

Essentially, an extra layer of fencing will need to be built around all F-35 parking areas, along with additional security arrangements.

These include limiting access to these areas only to personnel specially cleared to enter, essentially turning it into an airbase within an airbase.

Another upgrade would entail the building of landing pads to allow F-35B pilots to conduct vertical landing training and operations on. These pads would need to be specially reinforced to withstand the intense downward heat generated by the F-35B’s powerful engine as it lands vertically.

The F-35 looks set to transform the global air power landscape in the next few decades. It also has the potential to transform how Singapore will use air power and leverage technology to defend itself.

Introducing its capabilities into the RSAF would be a complex task, and one whose success is crucial to maximising its potential with the SAF.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...air-force-base-stovl-training-pilots-12250968

 

[Vanguard One]

Congrats to Singapore, looks like the world is sick of the BS coming out of China, China getting out played at the own silly game they started.