Chitchat RSAF to train in Guam? NDP there next time?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...ce-rsaf-pm-lee

WASHINGTON DC – Singapore's air training space and military ties with the United States will be expanded if discussions for training opportunities in Guam in the western Pacific are finalised, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

“(Our) Airforce is always looking for opportunities to expand its training options because we are so airspace-constrained in Singapore,” Mr Lee told the Singapore media on Wednesday morning (US local time) as he wound up a four-day official visit the US.
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“We have fighter training in America, flying training in Australia - we have a flying training school there, we have got a facility in France in Bordeaux. Guam, geographically, is a bit closer than these places.”

He said with the American forces stationed in Guam, “there is a good possibility of us working together with them, and developing a training facility there”, adding that discussions over the deployment is still in the preliminary stages.

In a wide-ranging joint statement on Tuesday, Singapore and the US said they are exploring the possibility of the Singapore Armed Forces conducting training in the US territory of Guam in the western Pacific.

The statement gave few details, but said both countries were eyeing “a potential long-term training detachment” for the Singapore air force. Both President Barack Obama and Mr Lee expressed support for efforts to explore the new training opportunities, the statement added.

Guam has long been a way station for passing jets and submarines. Plans are afoot, according to US media reports, to turn the island into a hub for about 5,000 US Marines who will be tasked with responding to conflicts and disasters in East Asia.

Mr David Boey, a member of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence who writes regularly on defence issues, told TODAY that if the arrangement is finalised, Singapore is likely to be the first South-east Asia nation to deploy its airpower for a protracted period on Guam.

He added: “This speaks volumes of the trust and goodwill between Singapore and the US - which already hosts the largest number of Republic of Singapore Air Force detachments, with Apache attack helicopters, Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, F-15SG and F-16C/D warplanes located in CONUS (contiguous US) for training.

“Long, strong and deep defence relations have also seen the Singapore Armed Forces execute live-fire war games in the US involving air and rocket artillery strikes."

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Majullah Guam!


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