Enough Air Power? Singapore Drops the F-35 Stealth Fighter | The Diplomat
Singapore is putting on hold plans to procure up to 12 Lockheed-Martin supersonic fifth-generation F-35B stealth multirole fighter jets for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), according to the Pentagon’s F-35 program office,
Bloomberg News reports.
Singapore’s Permanent Secretary for Defense Development, Ng Chee Kern, purportedly already informed the U.S. Department of Defense in the middle of June about the city state’s decision to postpone the acquisition of four F-35B fighter jets by 2022. (A tentative agreement included an option to buy an additional eight aircraft.)
However, U.S. President Barack Obama was apparently unaware of the mid-June decision taken by the city state. “We welcome Singapore’s interest in purchasing the F-35 aircraft,” he said last week at a White House press conference with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.