Singapore to buy eight F-35 jets, raise defense budget

MANILA, Philippines — Singapore’s Defence Ministry plans to order eight F-35A jets, which would bring the country’s Joint Strike Fighter fleet to 20.

The F-35A purchase would be on top of earlier orders for 12 F-35Bs from the American defense company Lockheed Martin.

Addressing Parliament during Wednesday’s budget deliberations, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said his ministry wants to take advantage of the competitive price of the F-35As, which are now “comparable” to Boeing’s F-15 jets.

“We may have to de-prioritize other projects for this opportunity buy, but we have done our calculations and we think that this is the best time to put in orders for the F-35As,” he said, adding that accelerating the F-35 acquisition plan will put the Republic of Singapore Air Force in the “premier league.”

F-35As are built for conventional takeoff and landing, have dependable endurance, can carry higher capacity payloads, and provide more operational flexibility, Ng explained.

Both the “A” and “B” variants are suitable for Singapore’s limited land spaces, the ministry has noted.

Singapore ordered four F-35Bs in a 2020 deal worth an estimated $2.75 billion, then added eight more F-35B units in 2023. The aircraft are on track to arrive during the 2026-2028 time frame.

If Parliament approves the current F-35A acquisition, Ng said the additional fighter jets would arrive by 2030, the same year Singapore’s military plans to retire its F-16 fleet. By the end of the decade, the Air Force would operate a combined fleet of F-15SG, F-35A and F-35B fighter jets.

The ministry has also proposed a SG$20.2 billion (U.S. $15 billion) defense budget — an increase from last year’s SG$17.98 billion (U.S. $13.36 billion) allocation.

For several years Singapore has steadily allocated around 3% of its gross domestic product for defense spending , according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank. This consistency has allowed the country to upgrade its aircraft fleet as well as modernize existing platforms.

The military had undertaken a massive modernization push set to materialize in 2040.

“So today we are reaping dividends of the sums we put in steadily over the past 20 years [on defense spending],” Ng said.

Singaporean leaders during the budget deliberations expressed concerns over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine , the Israel-Hamas war , and economic disagreements between the U.S. and China .

“We are all concerned that the U.S. and China could clash over Taiwan. If that happened, it would be a very bleak Asia for a very long time,” Ng acknowledged. “I want to make clear here that if ever something similar happens to us here in Singapore, this government, [the Ministry of Defence and the Singaporean Armed Forces] do not plan on the basis that we can depend on another country to come to our rescue. "

Leilani Chavez is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. Her reporting expertise is in East Asian politics, development projects, environmental issues and security.

菲律宾马尼拉——新加坡国防部计划订购8架F-35A战斗机，这将使该国的联合攻击战斗机机队达到20架。

此次采购F-35A是在此前向美国国防公司洛克希德·马丁公司订购12架F-35B的基础上追加的。

国防部长黄永宏在周三的国会预算审议会上发表讲话时表示，国防部希望利用F-35A战斗机具有竞争力的价格，该机目前与波音公司的F-15战斗机“相当”。

“我们可能不得不为了这次机会性采购而降低其他项目的优先级，但我们已经进行了计算，我们认为现在是订购 F-35A 的最佳时机，”他说道，并补充说，加快 F-35 采购计划将使新加坡空军跻身“一流水平”。

吴解释说，F-35A 是为常规起降而设计的，具有可靠的续航能力，可以携带更大容量的有效载荷，并提供更大的作战灵活性。

该部门指出，“A”型和“B”型方案都适合新加坡有限的土地空间。

新加坡在 2020 年订购了四架 F-35B 战斗机，交易金额估计为 27.5 亿美元，然后在 2023 年又追加了八架 F-35B 战斗机。这些飞机预计将在 2026 年至 2028 年期间交付。

吴先生表示，如果国会批准目前的F-35A采购计划，额外的战斗机将于2030年交付，同年新加坡军方计划退役其F-16机队。到本十年末，新加坡空军将拥有F-15SG、F-35A和F-35B三种战斗机组成的联合机队。

国防部还提议将国防预算提高至 202 亿新加坡元（150 亿美元），比去年的 179.8 亿新加坡元（133.6 亿美元）拨款有所增加。

据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所智库称，新加坡多年来一直将国内生产总值的3%左右用于国防开支。这种稳定性使新加坡得以升级其飞机机队并对现有平台进行现代化改造。

军方已启动大规模现代化建设，计划于 2040 年实现。

“所以今天我们正在收获过去 20 年来持续投入国防开支的回报，”吴说。

新加坡领导人在预算审议期间对俄罗斯持续入侵乌克兰、以色列与哈马斯之间的战争以及美国和中国之间的经济分歧表示担忧。

“我们都担心美国和中国会因为台湾问题发生冲突。如果这种情况发生，亚洲的局势将在很长一段时间内都非常黯淡，”黄永宏承认道。“我想在此明确表示，如果类似的事情发生在新加坡，本届政府、国防部和新加坡武装部队的计划并非基于我们可以依赖其他国家来拯救我们。”

莱拉尼·查韦斯是《防务新闻》的亚洲记者。她的报道专长是东亚政治、发展项目、环境问题和安全。