Page 26 - AirForces - Monthly (February 2020)

NEWS Asia Pacifi c

Singapore
to establish
fighter

training
detachment
in Guam
THE SINGAPORE Ministry
of Defence has announced
an agreement to set up a
fighter training detachment
at Andersen Air Force
Base (AAFB) in Guam in
the western Pacific Ocean.
The memorandum of
understanding (MoU) was
Antonov via Dave Allport signed during a meeting
between Singapore’s
Minister for Defence
Four more Indian Apaches delivered Dr Ng Eng Hen and US
ONE OF the latest batch of A contract for 22 facility in Mesa, Arizona. No 125 Helicopter Squadron Secretary of Defense
Mark Esper on December
Indian Air Force AH-64E(I) Apache Block IIIs was Four were then airlifted by (HS) ‘Gladiators’ at Pathankot 7. Under the plan, the
Apache attack helicopters placed in September Antonov Airlines An-124s AFS, part of the Western Air Republic of Singapore
being loaded onto an 2015, with deliveries to Hindon AFS near New Command, last September 3. Air Force (RSAF) will
An-124-100 of Antonov originally due from 2018. Delhi in July, where they The IAF plans to operate, at deploy F-15SG and F-16
Airlines at Phoenix Mesa The first two Apaches were assembled, and test least initially, two squadrons fighters and supporting
Gateway Airport, Arizona, in on order for the air arm flown, before ferrying to of AH-64Es, with the western assets such as the
November, for airfreighting were handed over to Air their eventual home base front covered by No 125 Gulfstream 550 airborne
to Hindon Air Force Station Marshal A S Butola, the the following month. The HS at Pathankot, and the early warning aircraft
(AFS), India. These latest most senior Indian Air next batch of four arrived east taken care of by a new to AAFB for training.
deliveries bring the total Force (IAF) helicopter pilot, in India last August and the unit – No 137 Helicopter The Singapore Armed
number of AH-64E(I) aircraft at a ceremony last May IAF formally inducted the Squadron – that will be Forces have conducted
in the country to 12. 10 at Boeing’s production AH-64E(I) into service with raised at Jorhat AFS this year. military training in the
India receives attrition replacement C-130J-30 US island territory since
the early 1990s and
RSAF fighters have made
AN ATTRITION replacement continuing to RAF Brize KC-3803, which was lost in a it struck a pole and other periodic deployments
C-130J-30 has been delivered Norton, Oxfordshire, where crash in Rajasthan on March obstructions with one wing there since 2017. Guam
to the Indian Air Force it arrived on December 14. 28, 2014, killing all five crew and a propeller at night at will be the fourth
(IAF). The Super Hercules, After stopping over for two members. The IAF purchased the high-altitude Thoise Air RSAF detachment on
KC-3813 (c/n 383-5887, nights, it departed Brize on 12 C-130J-30s in two Base in Jammu and Kashmir US territory after the
callsign ‘IFC5719’) routed December 16, heading initially batches of six aircraft each. (see Attrition, April 2017). It Peace Carvin II F-16C/D
from Dobbins Air Reserve to Athens International Despite the acquisition of a was flown back to Hindon Air detachment at Luke Air
Base, Marietta, Georgia, Airport, Greece, before replacement for the aircraft Force Station two weeks later, Force Base in Arizona,
to Gander International continuing its journey. that was lost, a second although it is unclear whether Peace Carvin V F-15SG
Airport, Newfoundland and The aircraft replaces No example was damaged on it had been fully repaired detachment at Mountain
Labrador, Canada, before 77 Squadron C-130J-30 December 13, 2016, when at that time. Dave Allport Home AFB, Idaho, and the
Peace Vanguard AH-64
detachment at Silverbell
South Korea’s F-35A declares IOC Army Heliport, Arizona.
According to a statement
A CEREMONY on December Fighter Squadron is the initial under test at Fort Worth. additional jets. Under the from the Singapore
Ministry of Defence, “the
17 marked the declaration of operator of the ROKAF’s Seoul plans to deploy 40 F-X III programme, the vast training airspace
initial operating capability F-35A fleet, with eight aircraft Lightning IIs by the end ROKAF is scheduled to in Guam will allow the
(IOC) for the Republic of assigned as of December. The of 2021. Last October, the receive another 20 F-35s at RSAF to conduct realistic
Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF’s) other five jets are attached to government announced it a cost of US$3.3bn. These training, to hone their
F-35A. The Lightning IIs are the 944th Operations Group’s would begin the second aircraft are expected to be capabilities and readiness”.
now ready for limited combat Detachment 2 at Luke or are phase of its plan to acquire delivered from 2021 to 2025.
deployment. ROKAF chief of
staff General Won In-choul
presided over the event,
which took place at the 17th
Fighter Wing’s base in the
central city of Cheongju.
By December 2018, six
F-35As were undertaking
crew training at Luke Air
Force Base, Arizona. By the
end of 2019, 13 aircraft had
been handed over to South
Korea, the first two examples
arriving at Cheongju Air Base ROKAF F-35A serial 18-003
last March 29; two more were (AW-03, FMS 15-5223) of the
delivered to the base directly 151st Fighter Squadron at
from the factory at Fort Worth, Cheongju AB on October 25
Texas, last July 15. The 151st last year. Dietmar Fenners

26 // February 2020 #383 www.Key.Aero

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