F-35: Singapore will order F-35

Before we get into the GAO report this week, I wanted to note another sign that the F-35 is considered the strike fighter of the future.  The island nation of Singapore has signaled that it intends to order F-35s to replace its aging F-5s and eventually, its F-16s.  Like Israel, Singapore is unlikely to consider a aircraft that it doesn't think will do the job for it when the chips are down.

Singapore's defence minister, Ng Eng Hen, said on Tuesday the air force "has identified the F-35 as a suitable aircraft to further modernise our fighter fleet".

"Our F-5s are nearing the end of their operational life and our F-16s are at their mid-way mark," he said in parliament.

"We are now in the final stages of evaluating the F-35." Ng gave no timeline but said the defence ministry "will have to be satisfied that this state-of-the-art multi-role fighter meets our long-term needs, is on track to be operationally capable and, most importantly, is a cost-effective platform." 

If you've been taken in by all of the critical press that continually claims the F-35 is the plane that won't fly, you have to be asking yourself why countries like Israel and Singapore would be ordering these aircraft if what the critics would have you believe is true?

The obvious answer you'd come up with is they wouldn't.  But they are.  You can draw your own conclusions from that very fact.

Graff