A unique state, smaller than St. Petersburg, even imports fresh water and sand - the current program for expanding the area of Singapore implies the constant washing up of artificial islands in the sea: as a result, over the past decades, the area of the country has increased by 50%.
Five million Singaporeans live on 60 islands in peace and harmony. Despite the extreme shortage of space, there is enough space for everyone, and people have never heard of traffic jams here. The problem of traffic jams was solved here in a very obvious way: bought a car? well done! now buy rooms for 80 thousand dollars. In principle, 80 thousand is not too much for Singapore - here, for this money, you can spit on the sidewalk as much as 160 times ($ 500 fine). The tough measures have paid off: Singapore is one of the cleanest and safest cities in the world.
In this tiny country, any habitual thing suffers from gigantism. The world's largest seaport, one of the world's largest airports, as well as such an interesting phenomenon as an air force that is completely disproportionate for such a small state are located here.
It sounds shocking, but on an area 3 times smaller than Moscow, 10 air bases have been built, mostly left over from the times of British rule. In fact, there are “only” nine airbases - Changi East and Changi West are a single complex with a common infrastructure.
Even more surprising is the paranormal amount of aircraft - today the Air Force of the Republic of Singapore has 420 aircraft! And this is not a "Potemkin village" - the Air Force is well balanced in composition, and the bulk of the combat vehicles are less than 15 years old. For example, all F-16 fighters received in the 1980s were decommissioned in the last decade.
Singapore aircraft must be equipped with suspended sighting and navigation containers, conformal fuel tanks (PTBs in the form of streamlined "stickers" on the aircraft fuselage), high-precision weapon sets - all the necessary components of modern combat aviation, significantly expanding its capabilities. Much attention is paid to promising means - more than a hundred reconnaissance drones are in service with the air force.
In addition to combat aircraft, the Air Force of the Republic of Singapore has a wide range of aircraft for solving special, reconnaissance and transport missions, as well as a whole fleet of training vehicles.
All these factors make the military aviation of the tiny country one of the most powerful and modern air forces in the world. Let me give you such a spectacular example - the combat capabilities of the Air Force of the Republic of Singapore are many times greater than the capabilities of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain! In principle, no country in Europe has an air force comparable in quantity and quality to the air force of a tiny Asian state.
Lion's grin
The combat core of the Air Force of the Republic of Singapore is 24 F-15SG fighter-bomber and 74 F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighter jets.
The F-15SG is an export modification of the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bomber, which differs from the original by the presence of a more powerful General Electric engine (American Strike Eagle engines are powered by Pratt & Wheatley engines), an advanced radar with an active phased array. the APG-63 array and an active jamming station developed in Israel. Singapore received its first F-15SG fighter-bombers in 2009. In total, the Singapore military intends to buy up to 80 such aircraft in the near future, however, the contract may be revised in favor of the F-35 Lightning II.
The F-16 C / D multipurpose fighters were received in the period from 1998 to 2004, all machines were supplied in the highest configuration at that time, Block52 / 52 +. Along with modern aircraft technology, Singapore ordered a batch of high-precision ammunition, among which were JDAM GPS kits, which turn any free-fall bomb into a guided weapon, and even such formidable "toys" as the AGM-154 JSOW gliding stealth bombs.
It is noteworthy that the Singapore Air Force, guided by some personal considerations, ordered most of the F-16s in a two-seat "D" modification. Practice has shown that such vehicles are most effective when striking ground targets. I don’t presume to judge that the Singaporean pilots are going to bomb, but the fact remains - the huge number of fighter-bombers and the stocks of the most modern weapons of the “air-to-surface” class create a depressing impression.
32 obsolete F-5S Tiger II fighters (received between 1979 and 1989) can be involved in combat missions. All of them underwent a deep modernization in the late 90s, including the installation of new Italian-made Griffin radars, equipment for a glass cockpit with multifunctional displays and a modern indicator on the windshield, as well as the HOTAS (Hands On Throttle- And-Stick), in which all the control buttons for important systems are located on the aircraft control stick and engine control stick. To improve maneuverability, the aircraft gun was dismantled, in exchange, the fighter was able to use modern guided missiles AIM-120 to destroy air targets. Another 9 fighters of this type were converted into combat training vehicles.
Unlike the Air Force of most countries, which purchased a large number of combat aircraft, but no longer found funds for such important "excesses" as tanker aircraft or early warning aircraft, the Singapore Air Force is a balanced system in which combat aviation provides a variety of specialized aircraft.
The Air Force is armed with 9 tanker aircraft: five re-equipped transport KS-130 "Hercules" and four powerful KS-135 "Stratotanker".
In 2012, there were changes in the squadron of AWACS aircraft - instead of the outdated E-2C Hawkeye purchased back in 1987, four new Gulfstream G550 AEW airspace control aircraft with the Israeli Falcon radar, created on the basis of Gulfstream G550 business jet.
Also, the Singapore Air Force has a tactical reconnaissance squadron RF-5S Tigereye, a squadron of naval patrol aircraft (converted Fokker F50 airliners with anti-submarine weapons and small-sized anti-ship missiles "Harpoon"), a squadron of military transport aircraft C-130 "Hercules" and administrative aircraft.
In addition to the aforementioned nine F-5S, the training squadrons are armed with four TA-4 Skyhawks and 19 Swiss Pilatus light aircraft to practice basic piloting skills. In November 2012, the delivery from Italy of the first of 12 ordered M-346 jet trainers is expected.
The high-tech island is also armed with 107 UAVs, including two large 1.5-ton Heron drones.
Rotary-wing aircraft keep up with the rest:
- 20 attack helicopters AH-64D "Apache Longbow", - 12 heavy transport helicopters CH-47 "Chinook", - 36 transport helicopters "Super Puma" and "Cougar", built by Eurocopter, - 6 sea search and rescue / anti-submarine helicopters S-70 "Seahawk".
Not bad for a country the size of Novosibirsk?
As you probably already guessed, it is physically impossible to place this entire armada on the territory of Singapore - the equipment simply will not fit at the air bases, and the inhabitants of the free city will not be able to fall asleep due to the constant rumble of jet engines.
Once again, a simple and obvious solution was found: a significant part of the aircraft is based abroad. For example, F-15SG super-fighters are located at Mountain Home in Idaho, and pilot training centers are located in Australia and even in France! Do not be surprised - Singaporean tankers generally train at training grounds in Germany.
Having gained independence in 1965, Singapore from the first day of its existence felt fear of Malaysia and Indonesia, whose leadership in all seriousness discussed the possibility of forcible annexation of the free island. The city-state developed much faster than all the neighboring countries of Southeast Asia, while the indigenous Malays made up only 20% of the population in it - Singapore, adhering to the principles of cosmopolitanism, was inhabited by people from all over the world: Chinese, Indians, Europeans and even immigrants from the Arab East. All of them were not at all happy about the prospect of "becoming related" with the Malaysians. In response to demands for unification, the island proudly sent offenders to hell, and in cases of a threat of real reprisals from its neighbors, it threatened to call for help from its “Big Friend”, who would quickly “democratize” the aggressor. But despite all the promises of US military assistance, Singapore relied more on its own forces, constantly increasing its army, navy and air force.
Ironically, despite all the military preparations, Singapore was critically dependent on Malaysia for supplying it with fresh water (the use of desalination plants is too wasteful, moreover, they are not able to ensure the full functioning of life on the island). In any case, the presence of such a solid air force inspires respect for a small, unusual country. Although I am more impressed by the snow-white passenger airliners with the inscription "Singapore Airlines" on the fuselage.
