Posted on 12/08/2011 8:48:18 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Tiny Singapore to spend $23 bln on defence by 2015-Jane's
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Tiny Singapore, with a population of 5.2 million and a land area half the size of Greater London, is likely to spend $23 billion on purchases of patrol aircraft, helicopters and other military equipment by 2015, according to a new report by IHS Jane's.
The Southeast Asian city-state, flanked by Indonesia and Malaysia, sits on one of the busiest sea lanes in the world and lists piracy as one of the main security threats in the region.
IHS Jane's said while ties with China were cordial and underpinned by strong economic and cultural ties, relations with Malaysia and Indonesia, both Muslim majority states, were more complex "due to protracted security dilemmas that stem in the main from concerns about...Islamic extremism".
Nicholas de Larrinaga, emerging markets analyst at IHS Jane's, said many countries elsewhere in the region were accelerating arms spending because of worries over China.
"There is a huge regional race to defend national interests, partly as a result of China's growing influence, but also all heightened by territorial disputes and a push for influence that is fuelling Asia's spending spree," he said.
Singapore's defence budget was seen rising by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2015 to more than $14 billion, he said.
"During the same time frame, we see defence procurement spending growing by nearly 59 percent to nearly $4 billion and totaling more than $23 billion," he added.
Singapore allocated S$12.08 billion for defence in its budget for the fiscal year beginning April 2011, a rise of 5.4 percent from 2010/11.
IHS Jane's said Singapore was an attractive choice for Western defence firms because of its relative transparency and its commitment to
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the littoral combat ship USS Freedom approaches the Singapore Navy stealth multi-mission frigate RSS Supreme during a maritime security exercise in this July 9, 2010 handout photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
Credit: Reuters/U.S. Navy/Lt. Ed Early/Handout/Files
Those countries better step up. China is looming. US is fading.
I think Singapore would do well to allay itself with Israel. They share similar problems and similar strengths. Perhaps they could somehow get the Seychelles (France is not such a pain in the patoot now) involved then they would have a relationship at similar latitudes across 10 or so time zones but close enough to help one another.
Without Singapore, you’d be seeing piracy in the Indian ocean like they had in the past.
And their military is so good it’s called the “other” Chinese army...
Israel is arguably Singapore’s oldest strategic ally. The Singapore military was founded with Israeli help.
http://www.cs.uwec.edu/~tan/saf_israel.htm
Well, except there was this, posted a few days ago: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2816009/posts
The “other Chinese army” is a bit of a hyperbole for Singaporean army that is less then 72,000 strong and has never seen any major combat action outside of the US/NATO umbrella. The Chinese PLA (and also North Korean army) have well over 2 million soldiers.
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