Friday, December 13, 2013

Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen meets the Joint Strike Fighter

Photo credit: United States Air Force

First picture of Singapore's Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter which visited Luke Air Force Base on Tuesday 10 December 2013.

For more, see earlier story here.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

like what "maverick" (played by tom cruise) said in the '86 "top gun" movie - the need for speed !

Anonymous said...

hi Anon 8:22AM

1) Speed - The F35 don't have that great a speed.

2) Stealth - it will be overcome someday...
but not at the present ;-)

3) What the F35 brings to the table is a whole new way of fighting digital combat, and there is still more room down there to grow for years to come ...

Good Job :-)

Anonymous said...

A very very expensive plane. IMHO its stealth capabilities are very much overated.

In the very near future counter stealth technologies will at least degrade substantially this capabilty.

Anonymous said...

Do we need such a aircraft or is it for our Minister ego...

Anonymous said...

Breaking news!!!
After evaluating the F35B by our DM,they have decided NOT to go ahead with the purchase. Apparently they were disappointed that the seat cushion don't come in Mahogany... sad.

They said the Chinese side agreed to upholstered their J20 with real fur from farmed Chinese foxes. And to top it off, the commies are offering a one time huge discount offering the latest models of 4G smart phone from Hua Wei for all the SG J20 pilots and ground crew! Good eh!? eh, eh...

What are we waiting for? Mai Tu Liao ... hahaha ;-)

Anonymous said...

LoLoL

Anonymous said...

We buying the 'B' model for its VTOL capability ?
Kinda ex tho , if just for that

Anonymous said...

is too many touch screen suitable for jet figter?
can the pilot touch it fast and accurately?


need accurate touch[img]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/puzzylion2/jsfhandtouchcontrol.jpg[/img]kkneed pinpoint touch[img]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/puzzylion2/jsfhandtouchcontrol2.jpg[/img]mpin point touch JSF[img]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/puzzylion2/jsfhandtouchcontrol.jpg[/img]

lionnoisy

Anonymous said...

This just came in... Embargo lifted... They had a meeting with the LM guys... Discovered a major user-interface glitch ! The touch screen combat information display has no swipe function! Later in the day, press release by LM spokesmen made a commitment to fix the problem. The LM board will be making a hostile takeover of Apple INC. Contingencies are in place just as we speak... To fix the batteries of Apple attorneys if LM faces legal obstruction by employing the services of black water. LM has also employed the services of PRC 10 cent brigade to heck into 苹果. Stay tune for more updates hot...

Anonymous said...

Quote:

It would be better to spend the money back home to increase the wages of lower worker rather than buying more fighter planes. After all if you let in so many foreigners willingly, then the enemy may be already on our shores. What can the fighter jets do? Did they send the fighter jets to Little India last Sunday?

Unquote:

From the Singapore Notes

Anonymous said...

Quote:
No sweat, after the $261m (for one) F35 have all missed their 40-foot whale-size containers stacked 4 high with a "precision laser guided bomb", foot soldiers can then be sent in to do the man's job. Yours sons, not theirs. And yes, we want our ten percent just like the mats when they bought their F18s and MiG 29s. "Bitcoins for you, sir?

Unquote

Anonymous said...

Quote:

The script accompanying the Reuters video ran like this:
"Lockheed Martin released video of the F-35 joint striker fighter jet successfully performing a weapons test with a guided bomb. The video shows the aircraft releasing Guided Bomb Unit-32, or GBU-32, from its internal weapons bay at 25,000 feet above a military range in California's Mojave Desert on December 6. The GBU-2 hit its intended target of eight stacked cargo containers."

Maybe the wrong video was used, because after the smoke had cleared, the eight 40-footers are still intact. Then again, the pilot could have been aiming at something else. It happens.
"There, at an army firing range (in the sultanate of Brunei), the much-touted Singapore-made weapons were being demonstrated for accuracy, reliability and versatility, at some stage of which both the father(LKY) and son(LHL) participated. Peter Lim reported the prime minister had scored direct hits with the weapons whereas his soldier-son had "wash-outs." The embarrassed general disputed the report claiming that he had tried for a more difficult target behind the target in question."
("The Media Enthralled, Singapore Revisited", Francis Seow, page 117)

So we have a brigadier general who can't shoot straight. We also have a guy who professed a "more open-minded interpretation of the Koran" as Minister for Muslim Affairs. But why is a medical doctor - once a surgical oncologist in private practice at Mount Elizabeth Hospital from 1997 to 2001 - making the decision to buy a US$161 fighter jet? Winslow Wheeler, from the Project on Government Oversight and a longtime U.S. Government Accountability Office (G.A.O.) official, is saying, “The true cost of the airplane — when you cast aside all the bullshit — is US$219 million or more a copy, and that number is likely to go up.”

Sure, Ng had with him the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) chief Major-General Hoo Cher Mou at the show and tell in Arizona. Hoo also happens to be the first non-pilot to be appointed as Chief of Air Force. Maybe both Ng and Hoo had extensive experience assembling Airfix plastic kits of model aeroplanes.

Like a kid unboxing presents on Christmas Day, Ng tried on the F-35B's pilot helmet, with the heads up displays and iPad type controls, and mounted a ladder to smell the new leather in the cockpit. Ng concluded, "The F-15s will serve us but we are evaluating the F-35s seriously." Seriously, that has to be the Brompton bike sickness all over again: why be satisfied with a US$31 million F-15 (flyaway cost, 1998) when you can splurge US$161 million on a F-35 with no government oversight committee to bother with?

Posted by Tattler at 10:27 AM
Reactions:
23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Singapore is in no hurry to buy the F-35 yet.
F-16 will undergo major upgrade and more F-15SG will be procured in batches.

Anonymous said...

ECEMBER 14, 2013
Riots and Wages in Singapore: Part 2
By Roy Ngerng and Leong Sze Hian

Last Thursday, we wrote about the low wages that low-wage workers in Singapore receive and how this might be a main contributing factor which had triggered the strike and riot in Singapore’s recent history.

But this is only half the story. Today, we will reveal to you more about the wages and how massive the disparity is.

Do you know that not only do low-wage workers in Singapore earn the lowest wages among the Nordic countries, the median wage of Singaporean is also the lowest among the Nordic countries (Chart 1)

Anonymous said...

quote:

12/14/2013

The attack on Sinkies has just begun
Sinkies are xenophobic, very bad, they must reflect on themselves, to treat the foreigners nicer, help them to be civilised, to have good manners, to be like them, oops, but not the xenophobic part. Arising from the riot in Little India, the attacks and vehements are all targeted at Sinkies. It is all the sinkies fault. The foreigners are nice people. Only a minority is bad.

Seriously, fucking seriously, to all the fuckheads, who started the rioting? Sinkies? Who are the rioters? Sinkies? Who got beaten up? Sinkies? Who overturned police cars and ambulance? Sinkies? Who burnt the cars? Sinkies?

Why are Sinkies now at fault, and are called xenophobic when they had nothing to do with the rioting? The leaders are blaming the Sinkies, the media are repeating it, forum writers are also adding fuel to fire. Sinkies must reflect on their behaviour and how to treat the foreigners better. Sinkies are guilty of xenophobia!

Who are getting displaced by foreigners in good jobs? Who are being discriminated by foreigners in this island? Sinkies?

For fuck sake, the Sinkies are not that daft to be branded as xenophobic when they are not. But I bet you, the daft Sinkies will take this with a smile, a shrug of the head and walk away. If Sinkies are not prepared to defend their rights in this island, their rights to be respected, their rights to good jobs, their rights to an orderly and peaceful country, safe and clean and harmonious, they deserved to be kick out of this island.

Don’t the Sinkies feel violated, the peace and tranquillity of their island home is now threatened and are the Sinkies expected to keep quiet, and even have to sayang the foreigners because they are such nice people but are being bullied by the Sinkies, and like the Sun TV report, being beaten up by Sinkies and are hiding in fear?

The foreigners are exploited for sure. By who? Who are the exploiters? Not the ordinary Sinkies that are being blamed for xenophobia. The riot is expected given all the factors that are conducive for a riot. It is only a matter of time and how severe it would be. It is not just the exploitation. Pay them well, give them the best in everything, but if you have a mob of tens of thousands, a hundred thousand, all hungry and lonely men, bored, far away from their home and family, a little spark is all it needs to start a mayhem, a pandemonium. You have all the ingredients for a bloody riot in a big crowd, not necessarily in Little India, but in any corner of the island when you have such a big gathering of single males, foreigners, workers, and from the less developed parts of the world when violence and rioting is normal.

Please stop putting the blame on Sinkies. Please stop calling the Sinkies xenophobic. The Sinkies are innocent bystanders. There may be a few minorities in cyberspace venting their anger. And can you blame them when they saw the peace and safety of their country going up in flame? It would be worse if they really sheepishly and meekly say nothing about this violation of their country. It is only natural and understandable for Sinkies to be angry. It is good to be angry when you are wrong. Some may say things a bit too harshly, but none of them are out there beating any foreigner or burning cars.

Would the assholes stop attacking and branding Sinkies as xenophobic? They are trying to pass the buck, to make Sinkies feel guilty for their for their devious ways

Anonymous said...

The last batch of F-35 A-models cost around $107 million, including the engines, but Martin said the company expected to beat that cost in the eighth production contract to be negotiated early next year.

By the time the new stealth fighter reaches full-rate production in 2019, she said it would cost around $75 million in current year dollars, or less, putting it on par with the cost of current fourth-generation fighter jets.

Boeing Co (BA.N) says its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet costs about $51 million, including engines and radar, but congressional aides say the price is closer to $70 million when sensors, targeting pods and other equipment that is standard on the F-35 is included.

Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Aeronautics, said Lockheed was aiming to deliver 38 aircraft next year, an increase of two from this year, and hoped to start ramping up production to help drive down costs.

Anonymous said...

reply to AnonymousDecember 14, 2013 at 2:38 PM ECEMBER 14, 2013.

besides compare salary,hv u compared the cost of living,taxxxxxx?


Anonymous said...

re..But why is a medical doctor - once a surgical oncologist in private practice at Mount Elizabeth Hospital from 1997 to 2001 - 


Dr NG will not make the decision,the Cabinet will. i think uknow there are few former and NS SAF Generals in ISTANA,like LHL,CCS,TCH,etc.
NG most likely write a report only.

Anonymous said...

Of course we are in no hurry for F-35s. Given the backlog of F35 orders, the earliest we can get is 2018-2019. RSAF knows this. It does not matter if we order a batch now or next year.

Meanwhile, we will be ordering more F15SGs.

Anonymous said...

By past experience, our F-35B will actually be F-35I.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
hi Anon 8:22AM

1) Speed - The F35 don't have that great a speed.

2) Stealth - it will be overcome someday...
but not at the present ;-)

3) What the F35 brings to the table is a whole new way of fighting digital combat, and there is still more room down there to grow for years to come ...

Good Job :-)
--------------------------

360 degrees optical/electro and unjammable situational awareness. It does not need to be looking at you or making acrobatics in the air to shoot at you with LOAL weapons. For info, Phyton 5 and Aim 9X Block 2 and all future weapons are LOAL. That is why it so deadly in the air. The Suks don't stand a chance. That is why rich countries buy it.

Anonymous said...

Actually the fighter aircraft market is a bit dry now, so the only choice for most countries is the F-35. If you're not willing to switch to European, Russian or French systems, there is only the F-35. It will take a new Cold War to renew some innovation in fighters and eventually bombers.

It would be naive to say no other aircraft stands a chance. As was said about stealth being negated one day, a good part of the F-35's advantage is lost. No fighter has impunity, the method of employment matters. Even a Gripen can score.

Anonymous said...

Technology is not static. And the F35 will become obsolete one day. When,that day happens we upgrade or buy newer planes. As things stand, it is the best there is versus any plane the region has. We should always get the best we can get. Pity the Suks.

Anonymous said...

Oh I see, this is about your Malaysia hating. We can whip them any time with our 36 F-15SG and 74 F-16 Block 52/52+. What is the point of this billion dollar F-35 buy? Our PM's vanity?

Anonymous said...

Hmm..replace older planes so that there is no fighter gap. You know planes do not magically appear if you order them. Slow and steady. I know it is a bit hard for boleh land to fathom. They hardly have the money to spare such undeniably sensible solutions.

Anonymous said...

What 110:26 fighter gap excluding our F-5... our tax money so well spent by our PM...

Anonymous said...

Ignoramus, SG needs to replace the F-5 and then F16 in stages. Ordering the first batch of the f35 now will only see them being delivered 2019 onwards. It will also be at least 1-2 years before IOC. Thereafter, we can replace at least one F5 squadron before we proceed with the f16s. By the time we are done replacing the f16s, it will be 2030. That's why the f16s are being upgraded. To give us time to replace them. I

Anonymous said...

Why does Singapore need to outnumber the Malaysian Air Force so many times? Unless Singapore is not scared of Malaysia, but scared of a bigger enemy ;)

Anonymous said...

The question you ought to be asking is why the RMAF is so small when it ought to be bigger.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't need to be. Malaysia has no delusions of fighting Singapore.

Especially with the China factor, ASEAN countries have good relations with each other, including Singapore-Malaysia.