US agency clears laser-guided bombs for potential sale to Singapore

MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. State Department has cleared a potential Foreign Military Sale to Singapore for a follow-on sale of laser-guided bombs, according to an announcement from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

The department notified Congress on Tuesday that it had approved the potential foreign military sale for 40 2,000-pound GBU-10 and 84 500-pound GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs.

The bombs consist of 2,000-pound Mark 84 (or BLU-117/B) and 500-pound Mark 82 (or BLU-111/B) bomb bodies, airfoil groups, and computer control groups that make up the air-dropped precision-guided weapons.

The request also included telemetry units for the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, target drones, and a variety of other equipment, spares and associated support. The estimated cost is $415 million and is for follow-on support to the Peace Carvin V F-15 training detachment of the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

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The DSCA announcement also said there is no prime contractor involved in this proposed sale, with defense articles anticipated to come from U.S. stocks unless unavailable or considered long lead time away.

Singapore is a close security and cooperation partner of the United States, and has one of the most advanced militaries in the Southeast Asian region. The island nation’s Air Force operates 40 F-15SGs along with 60 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon combat jets in its inventory, and Singapore has also expressed interest in acquiring the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

The Peace Carvin V training detachment is a squadron made up of the U.S. and Singaporen air forces. It is based at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho and operates 12 Singapore-owned Boeing F-15SG multirole aircraft for the continuation training of its F-15 pilots that also includes embedded U.S. Air Force personnel.

Due to a shortage of land and training areas, Singapore has several long-term training detachments and aircraft based overseas, including in the United States. In addition to the F-15SGs, it also has F-16 and Boeing AH-64 Apache training detachments in Arizona, as well as a Boeing CH-47 Chinook training detachment in Texas.

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