Singapore to buy eight more F-35B jets

MELBOURNE, Australia — Singapore will exercise a contractual option to acquire eight more F-35B fighter jets, bringing it fleet to 12 aircraft that manufacturer Lockheed Martin will deliver by the end of the decade.

Speaking to lawmakers during a budget hearing, Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the decision came after a “full evaluation” of the F-35, which followed increased access to the aircraft program thanks to the country’s initial order.

That access included Republic of Singapore Air Force pilots getting the opportunity to fly F-35 mission simulators under the tutelage of operational F-35 instructor pilots, as well as conducting an evaluation of the electronic systems onboard the aircraft.

Singaporean personnel also visited overseas operators to study various aspects of F-35 sustainment, and they flew with Australia and the U.S. Marine Corps operators during a multinational air combat exercise in northern Australia .

The U.S. State Department in January 2020 approved Singapore’s request to buy four F-35Bs — the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. The approval also included an option for eight more aircraft.

The small Southeast Asian island nation has likely selected the F-35B because it can take off fully loaded with a runway of about 600 feet, and land vertically. This allows the Republic of Singapore Air Force to reduce its reliance on long runways and to mitigate potentially devastating effects of an attack on its airfields.

Singapore currently has five established airports and air bases on its 280-square-mile main island, with a smaller emergency landing strip on one of its smaller offshore islands. One of the established bases is due to close in the early part of the next decade.

The Air Force will replace its current fleet of 60 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighters with the F-35B, with the service to retire the F-16 fleet starting in the early 2030s, according to Ng.

The F-16s are spread among three locally based squadrons and a training detachment based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The detachment is due to move to Ebbing Air National Guard Base at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and will become the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s F-35 training detachment when deliveries begin in 2026.

Accompanying documents released by the ministry during the budget debate also revealed Singapore will acquire ST Engineering’s improved Bronco 3 armored tracked carrier to replace the original Broncos in service with Singapore’s Army. However, the documents did not reveal an acquisition timeline, a quantity of vehicles or a contract value.

The country is setting aside $13.4 billion for its 2023 defense budget, a 5.6% increase over last year’s figure.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚墨尔本——新加坡将行使合同中的选择权，再购买 8 架 F-35B 战斗机，使其机队规模达到 12 架，这些飞机将由制造商洛克希德·马丁公司在本十年末交付。

新加坡国防部长黄永宏在预算听证会上对议员们表示，这一决定是在对F-35进行“全面评估”后做出的。此前，由于新加坡最初订购了该飞机，因此获得了更多参与该飞机项目的机会。

此次访问包括让新加坡空军飞行员有机会在F-35作战教官飞行员的指导下驾驶F-35任务模拟器，以及对飞机上的电子系统进行评估。

新加坡人员还访问了海外运营商，研究了 F-35 维护的各个方面，并在澳大利亚北部举行的多国空战演习中与澳大利亚和美国海军陆战队运营商一起飞行。

2020年1月，美国国务院批准了新加坡购买四架F-35B战斗机的请求——F-35B是联合攻击战斗机的短距起飞/垂直降落型。此次批准还包括增购八架飞机的选择权。

这个东南亚岛国之所以选择F-35B战机，很可能是因为它能在约600英尺长的跑道上满载起飞，并能垂直降落。这使得新加坡空军能够减少对长跑道的依赖，并减轻机场遭受袭击可能造成的毁灭性后果。

新加坡目前在其280平方英里的主岛上拥有五个已建成的机场和空军基地，并在其一个较小的离岛上设有一条较小的应急跑道。其中一个已建成的基地预计将在下一个十年的初期关闭。

据 Ng 称，美国空军将用 F-35B 战斗机取代目前由洛克希德·马丁公司制造的 60 架 F-16 战隼多用途战斗机，并计划从 2030 年代初开始逐步淘汰 F-16 机队。

这些F-16战机分布在三个驻扎于当地的飞行中队和一个驻扎在亚利桑那州卢克空军基地的训练分遣队中。该分遣队计划迁至阿肯色州史密斯堡的埃宾空军国民警卫队基地，并在2026年开始接收F-35战机后，成为新加坡空军的F-35训练分遣队。

在预算辩论期间，国防部公布的配套文件还显示，新加坡将采购新加坡科技工程公司（ST Engineering）改进型的Bronco 3履带式装甲运兵车，以替换新加坡陆军现役的旧款Bronco装甲车。然而，这些文件并未透露采购时间表、车辆数量或合同金额。

该国已拨出 134 亿美元作为 2023 年国防预算，比去年的数字增长 5.6%。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。