"Last July, Singapore agreed to let the Navy
permanently station a number of LCSs in
their territorial waters."
http://defense.aol.com/2012/01/10/navy-sees-lcs-as-key-to-global-partnerships/
But the Defense Minister is also quick to point out that the
American ships will only operate out of Singapore "on a
rotational basis," rather than being permanently based
there, and in fact demanded a correction to an earlier
version of this very article that used the politically loaded word
"base." Singaporean officials still emphasize they are
simply America's "partner," not a formal ally, and that they have
no desire to take sides in any kind of Sino-American Cold War.
Except, of course, they want us there as a very clear message to
China but without diplomatically throwing sand in the local bully's
face.
http://defense.aol.com/2012/04/05/us-should-be-dominant-in-pacific-but-must-make-nice-with-chi/
-When was this agreed?
-What number of LCS?
-What about the LCS's mission and can it perform its mission
directly from here?
-Most of the time, do they get laid up here or anchor
offshore?
-The major part of the LCS' duties are visiting regional ports
and trying concepts at sea. Given this, is a "rotational basis"
very different from basing? What is "one rotation"? Does sailing
out to visit a regional port and back count as one? Will Singapore
be the point of return for the LCS instead of Japan, Guam or
Hawaii?
-If "rotation" is so "light", why must you differentiate it from
the current arrangement of "port visits"?
-Please ignore the DF and move on if he gets rhetorical. It's
high time to show it doesn't get any attention.