Singapore's Decline in Use of UK Weapons

 On September 16, 2020 Shawn C  commented :

Over the decades, UK military equipment purchases have been reduced, simply as they couldn't offer winning bids. [Pete comment - And also with the withdrawal of UK military forces in 1971 from Singapore much UK equipment left and the colonial-political tradition that promoted UK weapons gradually left.] 

[Still] Singapore did purchase many of its initial military equipment from the UK in the early 1970s, including Hawker Hunters, Strikemasters, Bloodhound and Rapier missiles. The Land Rovers were part of an initial batch that includes Bedford lorries and Ford M151 jeeps.

The first Singapore army rifles were SLRs [Pete comment - SLRs at 7.62mm calibre were more suited to long range NATO flat or rolling hill country, heavy, long to swing around in the jungle, heavy bullets hence fewer carried, less suited to in close quarter fighting, not fully auto, so unsuited to Singapore jungle warfare], but quickly changed to M-16s [suitable but could/can jam on jungle mud/dust] on the advice of Israeli military advisors. 

That kicked off the whole Chartered Industry of Singapore saga when an entire M-16 factory was bought from Colt turn-key, then after finishing the Singapore Army production run Colt refused to let Singapore export to countries in the region, which lead Singapore developing the SAR-80/88, an AR-18 derivative design from Sterling Arms in the UK.

 The last major attempt from the UK was the BAe led Eurofighter Typhoon [and Rafale] bids in 2005 that lost to the F-15SG. 

After Rapier SAMs were replaced with [the Israeli] SPYDERs in 2011, Shawn doesn't think the Singapore Air Force has any major equipment sourced from the UK.

Trump Ahead By 1% Says Very Significant Pollster

Good news is that collective polls indicate Biden is 6.9% ahead.

_____________

Bad news is that Rusmussen Reports (a very accurate pollster in 2016) now indicates: 

"Trump Takes First Lead Wednesday, September 16, 2020

President Trump has now edged to a one-point lead over Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the latest Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch survey. While statistically insignificant, it’s the first time Trump has been ahead.

The new national telephone and online survey finds the president with a 47% to 46% lead over Biden among Likely U.S. Voters. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, while four percent (4%) remain undecided..."

PETE COMMENT

"Undecided" is always a critical, but unpredicatable, element in polling.

I'd say, after early optimism (that Trump would lose) Trump Winning is now a 50/50 proposition.

Penetrating US ICBM Silo Anti-Personnel Defenses: Terrorist DIY Guide

Only in America would the US government reveal precise details of its ICBM silo anti-personnel security hatches, combination locks, timers and defensive firearms

via David Hambling, writing for Forbes, September 16, 2020 at 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/09/16/us-enhances-last-line-of-nuclear-missile-silo-defense/#7ac6977f6f56

"...The U.S. Air Force is improving the protection of its nuclear missile silos from against attacks by terrorists or other ground forces, with a  $21 million contract to Northrop Grumman NOC +1.6% for a device known as a Fast Rising B-Plug. This unusual item is literally the last line of defense between the bad guys and a missile with a live 400-kiloton nuclear warhead..."

One ton outer access hatch (above) and 7 ton B-Plug "hatch" below. (Photos and details courtesy US Air Force via Forbes.) 
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see WHOLE FORBES article

Admiral Rickover's Leadership Contradictions

Admiral Rickover (1900 - 1986) the "Father of the [US and World's First] Nuclear Navy" was:

-  brilliant, or a great self-promoter

-  patriotic, yet selfish

-  loyal to crews safety, yet disloyal to the Navy command structure

-  far seeing in engineering and scientific terms, yet rejected creativity in many others

-  a great man manager, yet many of his men hated him because he micro-managed them

-  generous with his money, yet exploited the gifts from corporations system  

-  humourless, yet had a well rounded deadpan sense of humour.

A book called The Rickover Effect on his leadership style, is well worth reading.

Here and above, is a 4 minute 56 second video based on a 1984 US "60 Minutes" interview hosted by Diane Sawyer.

The whole interview video, removed from Youtube by December 2022 (if not earlier) lasted 15 minutes 45 seconds, which had the following notable moments:

3:35 - Rickover admits "I have the charisma of a chipmunk." 

6:10 - Rickover cut parts of 2 legs of the chairs prospective SSN captain interviewees had to sit on so they would slide off their chairs

7.00 - Jimmy Carter, when a submarine officer "hated" Rickover a "few times" before Carter became President

7:30 - Rickover worked the political system to stay in office as nuclear navy chief

9.00 - many in the Reagan Administration, Navy and defense contractors organized Rickover's sacking/final goodbye in 1982 after a record 63 years of active duty

11:30 - He gave $100,000 of his own money to US educational projects

12:40 - He also built the first civilian nuclear plant. Was it the Shippingport Atomic Power Station?

13:30 - Thoughts on nuclear weapons

14:30 - Rickover and love letters

15:45 - Finishes.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

QUESTIONS

A.  What are the most important leadership qualities a Submarine Commander should have?

B.  What are the most dangerous traits a Submarine Commander might have?

Singapore More Western Ally Than Publicized

 My response to Benjamin's interesting comment of September 14, 2020

I think the price of Singapore's new Type 218SG submarines are average-low indicating the 218 is not a radical departure from the Type 214. Number "4" tends not to be used as it is an "unlucky number" in various  Chinese languages spoken by most Singaporeans (also see "Tetraphobia"). More specifically US$900 million per 218 is reasonable given it is a larger-than-usual AIP submarine from a new supplier (TKMS) - with the price also covering spares, training, maintenance facilities, etc.

I think Singapore has to hedge a bit and does not form alliances because:

-  Singapore's relatively small military would only be a small addition to the forces swallowed up by a
   much larger ally (especially the US). Even Australia under ANZUS is a small addition to US forces.

-  a formal alliance would normally mean Singapore would politically-legally be required to come to the
   aid of an ally (say the US) if the US were "attacked". 

   In December 2001, following Afghanistan-based-al Qaeda's 9/11 terrorist attack on the US,
   Australian SAS came to the aid of US forces fighting in Afghanistan. This was legally-politically
   invoked under  the ANZUS Treaty. 

While Singapore is not an ally of the US Singapore is/was still contributing, with the US and Australia, to the "War On Terror" in the Middle East. Note this Straits Times article "Parliament: More SAF troops to be sent to Iraq later this year to train their security forces" of March 2, 2018 

and 

"including the Singapore Armed Forces and the Australian Defence Force's joint deployments in the Middle East as part of the Defeat-ISIS coalition"

Singapore may have intel (eg. sigint) relationships...made public in 2013 - with Singapore a "third party" associate member of the "Five Eyes".

"FPDA" features so little in an average Aussie's knowledge of regional arrangements that I had to look it up - yielding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Power_Defence_Arrangements . Odd that any concept of UK forces reentering the East of Suez (or east of Afghanistan) region is still entertained

and odd that the US is NOT in the FPDA arrangement. Maybe a Queen Elizabeth class carrier will visit our region in 2021?

Does Singapore buy weapons platforms of any significance from the UK?  I note some very old Land Rovers and more recent snipers rifles.

Yes Australia has been building/launching/planning a grand fleet of new ships: LHDs, destroyers, offshore patrol vessels, smaller patrol boats, large frigates, supply ships, an icebreaker and last, but not least submarines. BUT Australia's ability to man and maintain all these old and new vessels is less certain.

China Trying to "Westernize" Its Army

China is attempting to Westernize its army, but it is still too dependent on conscripts while unattractive to ideal volunteers.

So here is a great (though bit long) article from StrategyPage:  "Leadership: China Westernizes Its Military" of September 13, 2020 at  https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/articles/20200913.aspx

"In the late 1990s China decided to model its rapidly modernizing armed forces on the Western model. 

Chinese were impressed with how the American led force demolished the Iraqi army in 1991. This “Hundred Hour War” was an impressive demonstration of how a well-equipped and well-trained all-volunteer force could roll over a Soviet-style, largely conscript force, even when outnumbered. There were several instances during that short war when outnumbered American units defeated larger Iraqi forces. 

Chinese officers looked at that and decided that this was the kind of military China needed. This attitude was reinforced in 2003 when two American and one British division invaded and defeated Iraq in a few weeks. In both those wars the Americans allowed TV journalists to accompany the combat units, so there was lots of video for Chinese troops and officers to study.

By 2003 China was still hampered by a force modeled on the Russian (Soviet Union) model, an organizational style that had largely been discredited..." much more.