The Olympian
21 May 2008
he first elements of a unit of the Royal Singapore Air Force are scheduled to begin arriving at Mountain Home Air Force Base in southern Idaho in October, and the first fighter jets the following April.
"A combination of factors, including the base's flying training range, F-15E squadron and existing infrastructure, helped determine Mountain Home's selection to host the unit," 1st Lt. Matthew Stines, a Mountain Home deputy chief of public affairs, told The Times-News.
The five- to 20-year training contract will initially bring up to 20 new F-15SG fighter jets and 179 active-duty Singapore personnel plus their families to the sage-and-grass plain between the Danskin and Owyhee mountains.
About 128 U.S. personnel will also be needed to repair planes and beef up other facilities.
Singapore, an island nation of 4.5 million in southeast Asia, is a close ally of the United States and a staunch supporter of the war on terror. It was named an al-Qaida target by the group's alleged operative Khalid Sheikh Mohamed during a tribunal last year at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Shelton Woods, a professor of Southeast Asian history at Boise State University, said Singapore is also strategically important for the U.S. because it's next to the Malacca Straits, an important oil shipping corridor.
He also noted having good relations with Singapore, which is 90 percent ethnic Chinese, could help in future relations with China, North Korea, and South Korea.
He characterized the Singapore pilots training in the U.S. as more of a diplomatic move rather than a military necessity.
However, officials say a lack of air space in the nation of 63 islands on the Malay Peninsula's southern tip limits training for Singapore pilots.
The F-15SG aircraft the Singapore pilots will use for training in southern Idaho is an advanced version of the U.S. Air Force's F-15E Strike Eagle jet, according to the aircraft's manufacturer, Boeing Co.
The company is scheduled deliver 12 of the jets to Singapore this year and in 2009, and the nation has the option to buy eight more. The jets are expected to arrive in southern Idaho in April 2009.
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