The bulk of the money spent is mostly overseas - for the training
of the SAF in the military arrangements made with Australia,
Brunei, France, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Taiwan,
Thailand, and the USA.
In the question asked by 'As romanista2001' - "why we
spend so much ?" - he is referring to the Defense Budget.
Was it about supporting the "arms industry" owned by the
Singapore Government ?
One must remember the history of Singapore
- how independence was forced on us in the midst of the
turbulent politics that led to Singapore being thrown out of a
rushed merger to be part of Malaysia.
Prior to Singapore being forced out of Malaysia - there was a
plan to send two battalions of Royal Malay Regiment to force a
coup de'tat that would have locked up the entire Singapore
State Government, put Singapore under the direct control of
the Malaysian Federal Government.
It was then UK PM Harold Wilson who prevented this from
happening.
This led to a frantic introduction of legislations to
implement National Service based on the same lines as Israel,
as she was the only country that responded to our call for help
when others have declined.
The amount spent on Defense has been gradually increased as
the SAF mature in the step-by-step development - as seen in
the purchase of second hand AMX-13 tanks that were first
introduced, as well as the second hand Hawker Hunters fighter jets,
the SkyHawks; then there were the old County Class LSTs, while
new patrol boats were built locally.
The size of the Defense Budget today is to ensure the SAF
is kept on a sharp edge with all the modern equipment and
technologies purchased, and also to ensure that the fighting
capabilities are integrated to ensure the SAF is confident of the
'force multiplier effects' when different components are
put together for any missions.
The fact that the SAF need to train overseas is due to the
limited land size that we inherited and live in.
The bigger terrain made available overseas will allow the SAF to
test the basic skills of individual soldiers training in
unfamiliar ground, and which also allow larger SAF formations
to familiarize and get experience in strategic manoevres - as well
as to test new equipment, technologies and systems that
are introduced to the make the SAF a sharp fighting
force.
As i wrote the money we spend on Rand D and manufacturing of
some weapons should justify for a certain amount of money we can
throw back and spend on our military trainings, hardware, people
and whayever requires.
In times like these when the economy is on the recovery or
uncertainties as some may address it spending on military is a sign
that reinforce that we take serious concerns on any monkey
businesses.
What you wrote why these are the usual expenses SAF incurr.
Unless trainings has been cut down so say. I believe having a
vision that a country (no matter how big or small) is good to
have some sort of defend force or army so as to deter any forms of
foreign invasion will be in the minds of any sane ruler so the
thought of building an army to defend the island is logical.