Plans for Singapore F-15 training detachment on Guam scrapped

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

The U.S. and Singapore have cancelled plans to establish a permanent training detachment for the Royal Singapore Air Force on Guam, where up to a dozen F-15 fighter jets were supposed to be deployed to Andersen Air Force Base.

In a statement, the Singapore Ministry of Defense said the “mutually agreed” decision to drop the discussion was made following a review of the RSAF’s training needs.

“Singapore and the US have excellent and long-standing bilateral defense cooperation,” the statement reads.

Singapore’s defense office said the RSAF will continue with periodic short-term training and exercises in Guam, such as an upcoming fighter training detachment in October and November this year.

“We thank the U.S. Department of Defense for their continued support of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s training detachments in the U.S., which are integral to the RSAF’s honing of its operational capabilities," the defense department said.

Singapore said it is working with the U.S. on a new fighter training detachment at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, which will host the RSAF’s future F-35 fighter training.

The plan to bed down F-15 fighter jets was part of a 2019 agreement, which would have involved Singapore’s deployment of mission support and annual airfield operations at the proposed detachment.

In June last year, the U.S. Air Force released the environmental impact statement for the proposed construction of new infrastructure upgrades adjacent to the northwest corner of the existing airfield and within the munition storage area at Andersen AFB.

Construction was supposed to begin this year.

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