On December 7, Singapore defense minister Dr Ng Eng Hen and his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a permanent fighter detachment in the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, solidifying a plan made sometime in 2016 when Ng said that the RSAF was exploring new training detachments in Guam or New Zealand. While details remain sketchy, the MoU will see the potential deployment of Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Lockheed Martin F-16C/D, Boeing F-15SG, and Gulfstream G550 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft.
The agreement is a timely and suitable one. The government plans to decommission Paya Lebar air base by 2030 to make way for urban development, meaning the loss of shelters, infrastructure and runways. While expansion works in Tengah and Changi airbase are underway, the RSAF has to plan so that its airpower generation capability is not compromised in times of need. The Guam detachment will be the RSAF’s third fighter detachment on U.S. soil, and the closest one to Singapore, giving the RSAF the ability to quickly recall combat and support assets.
To understand the RSAF’s relentless pursuit for overseas deployment, one must consider Singapore’s geographical location in southeast Asia. The lack of territorial airspace, landmass and geographic variations has forced the RSAF to set up training detachments in Australia, France and the United States. Tied up with the procurement of aircraft, the RSAF has set up a permanent peacetime presence in the U.S., where units flying the F-16C/D (Peace Carvin II program) and F-15SG (Peace Carvin V) are based.
Now, the RSAF also has a helicopter (CH-47D) and training (PC-21) detachments in Australia, an advanced jet training (M346) detachment at Cazaux in France, as well as a U.S.-based AH-64 Apache detachment.
The relationship between the U.S and Singapore is a special one. The RSAF has been given the opportunity to train alongside and against U.S. and allied air arms in drills such as Red Flag, while Singapore is one of the handful of countries—if not the only one—to be permitted to conduct bilateral large-scale joint exercises at American bases, such as Exercise Forging Sabre, in which U.S. forces and the Singapore Army’s HIMARS artillery rocket system come together for a complex live-firing wargame.
This is likely to continue in Guam. Since 2017, the RSAF has conducted two exercises with the USAF with F-15SGs and F-16C/Ds. Once Guam has been made “home,” it's likely that bilateral training will increase. The RSAF could also join the Cope North exercise, a U.S. Air Force wargame with the Australian and Japanese air arms, in which all three current participants are F-35A operators.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) have been also trying to increase the complexity and integration of air, land, and sea exercises. While the two land-locked continental U.S. deployments provide RSAF pilots with the opportunity to conduct long-distance overland missions, joint high-end training with the Navy is still lacking. While the Singapore navy ramps up exercise complexity with its American counterpart in Exercise Pacific Griffin based in Guam, the new RSAF detachment is likely to explore opportunities to hone its anti-surface tactics there. As it is just two hours ahead of Singapore and Australia time, Guam could even coordinate its exercise serials with the annual land forces Exercise Wallaby in Australia, again something that is not possible with the current U.S. detachments.
Looking further ahead, Guam might not be the last U.S. detachment the RSAF will have. It was announced earlier in 2019 that the air force will be evaluating the F-35, ordering four with an option for eight more. Depending on the variant selected, the RSAF is likely to establish another new fighter detachment at a U.S. Marine Corps base if it goes for the F-35B S/VTOL version, or expanding the Peace Carvin II detachment at Luke AFB if the F-35A is selected.