The US Defense and Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has announced that the State Department has approved Singapore’s request for a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Singapore of precision-guided air-to-ground munitions kits and related equipment and services.
The announcement made on the 9 February said Singapore’s request included 100 KMU-556 tail kits for the GBU-31 Joint Direct-Attack Munition (JDAM), 900 KMU-572 tail kits which can be used for the GBU-38 JDAM and GBU-54 Laser Joint Direct-Attack Munition (LJDAM).
Also requested by the Southeast Asian nation was 250 MXU-650 Air Foil Groups for the GBU-12 laser guided bomb and an unspecified number of DSU-38 laser guidance sets, as well as other associated spares and support.
The estimated cost of the request is US$55 million (A$78.95 million), with the principal contractor being Raytheon Missile and Defense. The DSCA notification added that it anticipates that a portion of the items requested will come from US Government stock.
The KMU-572 tail kits and laser guidance sets are used to convert standard Mk.82 227-kg (500-lb) free fall bombs into GPS-guided GBU-38 JDAMs and/or dual-mode GPS and laser-guided GBU-54 LJDAMs, while the air foil control groups turn the same bombs into laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided bombs.
The KMU-556s convert the larger Mk.84 907-kg (2000-lb) bombs into GBU-31 JDAMs. If the sale is followed through, Singapore will use the bombs to add to its existing stockpile of similar weapons for equipping its fleet of Boeing F-15SG Eagle and Lockheed-Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon multirole fighters.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) currently operates 40 F-15SGs and 60 F-16C/Ds and is currently upgrading the latter with an Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar, new mission computer, datalink and other avionics.
It will also be a future operator of the Lockeed-Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, the land-scarce island nation having selected the F-35B Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) model in 2020.
Singapore has been cleared to buy four F-35Bs with a further eight options that will be delivered starting from 2026, although it will likely seek more jets to replace its F-16s that will start being withdrawn from service around 2030.
The RSAF’s F-35Bs will initially be based in the US for training at Ebbing Air National Guard base at Fort Smith, Arkansas. It currently maintains two other fast jet training detachments in the United States; an F-16 squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona that will move to Ebbing later this year and an F-15SG squadron at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.
The RSAF also holds regular unilateral and bilateral fighter training exercises in Guam, a US territory in the central Pacific. The agreement is similar to that it has with Australia, which sees annual temporary RSAF jets training detachments the Northern Territory.
The country is also an important security partner of the US in the region, hosting up to four rotational Littoral Combat Ship deployments from its Changi Naval Base, which also sees regular US Navy ship visits throughout the year.