Posted on 01/14/2014 2:37:40 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Washington — Singapore is ready to invest $2.43 billion to modernize its F-16 fighter jets in an arms deal with the United States, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The Defense Department informed Congress of the planned sale that would involve new radar, navigation systems, missiles and other advanced equipment for Singapore's aging fleet of F-16s.
The deal would provide new systems that project a display onto a pilot's helmet visor, allowing the F-16 pilot to aim sensors and weapons where he or she is looking.
The deal also would deliver a number of different precision-guided bombs for testing, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign arms sales.
"The proposed upgrade will improve both the capabilities and the reliability of the Republic of Singapore Air Force?s (RSAF) aging fleet of F-16s," the agency said in a statement.
"The proposed sale will improve the security of a strategic partner which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Asia Pacific region," it said.
The modernization of Singapore's F-16 aircraft will buy the country more time as it weighs a possible purchase of the costly F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will eventually replace all of America's fighter jets.
During a visit to Washington in December, Singapore's defense minister, Eng Hen, confirmed his government was in no rush to make a final decision on the F-35 aircraft.
"We're in no particular hurry, because our F-16s are still very operational, and they're due for upgrades," he said on December 12.
"But it is a serious consideration."
The United States, concerned about China's growing military might, has touted a strategic "rebalance" to the Asia-Pacific and has made a p
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I think Singapore, India, Israel and Japan should get together and start co-designing state of the art weapons. That spreads the cost so they can afford it. All of them have the capacity and all of them need to cut the strings to our capricious government. One president sells jets to somebody and another stops the sale.
They simply can’t keep risking their security on us keeping reasonable leaders. We’ve demonstrated that every eight years we’re going to go full hippie on them.
Upgrade a Viper with an HMCS and AESA radar, and you’ve got 80% of an F-35 for 10% of the cost.
Those upgrades will be done in American Factories, by American workers. In addition doing this work in the US will lower costs to the US Military for future F-16 work (fixed effort is allocated over a larger base), But, you want these foreign countries to design and build their own systems (in their factories, using their workers). Why do you hate American jobs?
“Why do you hate American jobs?”
I don’t. Incidentally, there’s usually a tradeoff and some work is performed locally.
The US is a fickle supplier. I’ve been in the military industrial complex over 30 years. Many times, for two years at a time, I made my bread and water off forign military sales. But one president sells F-16’s, for example, to Pakistan and the next one stops the sale just before delivery. Now, Pakistan is in a bind. They’ve stopped upgrading and maintaining the planes they had in anticipation of getting new planes on a certain date. This can be fatal to a country.
Do you really think President Obama will honor our agreements to protect Taiwan from Chinese aggression? What if he gets their planes over here and impounds them at the request of the Chinese. (Remember, they have our financial testicles.) Do you think Obama will use nukes to defend Japan against China? Do you think Obama will help Israel against Iran? I believe the answers to all these questions is no.
Even if we replace this traitor, every so often we’ll get another Jimmy Carter or Barak Obama. Or, a Democratic congress will stop the president from supporting an ally or Christians fighting desperately for survival. Remember congress stopped Reagan from helping the Contras.
The US and its arms sales have become too dependent on domestic US politics. If China, India and Taiwan don’t want to become part of the Greater Chinese Co-prosperity Sphere, they’d better wise up and develop their own weapons and stop depending on the undependable US.
My greatest concern is maintaining US superiority in weapons (which we get when we can afford to develop weapons, which FMS Sales help),keeping unit prices for US procurement lower (again, helped by FMS Sales), and in maintaining domestic jobs. How does telling these FMS customers to not buy American help that?
The world pretty much knows the F-35 is an expensive joke that most nations will find fairly useless against the modern competition as a fighter.
That’s why Singapore would be much better off with upgraded F-16s.
Nobody wants a 35 unless we muscle them politically.
“How does telling these FMS customers to not buy American help that?”
I couldn’t agree with you more. I’ve viewing this from the Israeli perspective, the Indian perspective, the Japanese perspective and the Taiwanese perspective. You have to believe they’ve noticed what a poor ally the US is when Democrats get elected. If the US expects to keep these valuable customers then the US has to stop electing Democrats to the presidency.
In a related mater, Clinton gave the Chinese our missile and spy satellite technology via Bernie Schwartz. Carter gave the Chinese and Soviets a ten year warning that stealth was on the way. Obama gave the Iranians (and hence the world) our drone technology.
So, what technological edge can’t be cancelled by electing a Democrat to office?
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