Singapore getting a blue water navy?!? More like a green-water
one, once we get our frigates. Definitely NOT a blue-water(ocean)
capable navy.
Sunburns are not the threat facing our Navy. On paper, its range
really looks impressive, but in actual fact, it is not a weapon
suited for the littorals, which is the environment we are in. First
of all, its impossible, at least not practical, to be used in its
max range. Why? cause of targeting problems. The problem of
updating the enemy's position is REALLY HARD, which is the main
reason why the US navy withdrew their ASM tomahawk variant from
service. If even America, with its unrivalled information
superiority, faces such tough targeting problems, what else
Indonesia etc Another reason is that its not a weapon suitable for
littoral warfare, which is why they are relying on the Standard's
secondary ASM role. In the littoral region, range is of much less
importance due to the limited range the enemy can be detected. In
addition to the range of the radar being limited due to Islands
blocking the Line of Sight, what can be detected cant be confirmed
hostile until they are very close. Imagine our crowded waterways...
how do you know which is an enemy ship and which is not? If you can
only fire at it when its very close, what's the point of getting a
long-ranged missile? Which is why the USN is relying only on the
Standard as well as the Harpoon only. Sunburns are also really HUGE
missiles intended to take out large vessels, but in the littorals,
the main threat comes from smaller corvette sized vessels like
ours. So at most, the main missile we will face is the Exocet...
nothing bigger than that...
