The Singapore Ministry of Defence will soon be ready to announce a decision on a replacement for the country’s fleet of 60 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D/D+ Fighting Falcons. In recent years, it has said that it was in no hurry to decide on the F-35. Singapore has been a security cooperative participant in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program since 2003.

Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen told the media that the F-16s will have only another 10 years following their mid-life upgrade, and to ensure a smooth transition, a lead time of eight to 10 years is required to decide on the platform, secure training premises, build maintenance facilities, and train pilots.

He said some key considerations are the aircraft’s capabilities; ability to integrate with forces from the air, land, and sea; and affordability of maintenance costs.

Another consideration that Ng highlighted was "concentration failure," the grounding of a fleet of single-type fighters. The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will avoid this situation, and he, therefore, ruled out more F-15s. He said, “There are only that many aircraft in the market to look at…F-35, Typhoon, Rafale, and now even the Chinese stealth fighters.”

Singapore’s F-16C/D pilots have been training at Luke AFB since 1998, adjacent to the USAF F-35 training unit. The Minister and senior RSAF officials have been briefed numerous times on the training and capabilities of the F-35A and F-35B during their visits to Luke AFB.

The U.S. State Department had gone to great lengths to woo Singapore to further commit on the F-35 program. For the first time in recent years, early this year it sent foreign military sales diplomats to the Singapore Airshow to promote the sales of the American military products to Singapore and other Asia-Pacific armed forces, and two U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs made their debut.

Responding to a query from AIN about a possible F-35 acquisition, the RSAF said, “Decisions to acquire new and advanced capabilities are important and will be made after careful and thorough evaluation. We have to ensure that our investment not only meets our defense requirements but is also cost-effective.”