There have been a number of significant agreements recently with
US defence companies, 2 of which have drawn notable interest. First
is the integration of the Sniper pod for the F-16C/Ds. This
provides significant long range real time intel and deep strike
potential for the front-line aircraft. The integration of the
Sniper pod into the 3G environment provides the SAF with better real-time battlefield awareness. The
larger number of aircraft with this capability also provides more
“eyes in the sky” and releases other aircraft such as the F-15 to
other important duties.
Second, the paveway 2 and 3 program have been extended not only
to the F-15 and F-16s in RSAF inventory but
also the F-5 and A-4s. This appear to suggest that even legacy
skyhawks in RSAF reserve could be given a
significant upgrade in ground attack capabilities.
The paveway 3 program in particular provides mid-ranged
stand-off LGB strike options (in excess of
30km range for certain high altitude launch profiles) and extended
range for low level strikes with deadly accuracy (low CEP).
The paveway 3 munitions are more expensive than paveway 2s which
means the latter will remain in significant quantities.
GBU-10s and 12s are present in RSAF inventories.
Both the F-5 and A-4 series are already Maverick-capable. The
paveway capability provides a much lower-cost yet equally effective
capability.
The package does not appear to include the enhanced paveway
series. However, GPS/INS JDAM tailkits are already available to the RSAF so the additional flexibility offered by the
enhanced series does not appear to be required at this time.