Last minute "negotiations 
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Singapore delays $1 bln fighter contract until Q2
Thu Mar 3, 2005 02:27 AM ET
By Jan Dahinten
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore is delaying a $1 billion contract
for 20 combat jets by up to three months as Eurofighter, Boeing and
Dassault tussle for the well-armed island's biggest fighter order,
people close to the talks said.
Despite industry speculation that Singapore was leaning towards one
of the two European suppliers rather than Boeing, aerospace
analysts and sources said the outcome was too tough to call.
The Southeast Asian nation had been expected to decide on a
replacement for its ageing A-4SU Super Skyhawk jets in the first
quarter of this year, but people at two of the three shortlisted
groups told Reuters a decision was now expected between April and
June.
"The Singaporeans have been asking a lot of questions regarding the
planes. There's a lot of activity," one source said.
A defence ministry spokeswoman said the deal was still being
evaluated. She did not give a time frame for an announcement.
The Eurofighter consortium, Boeing Co. of the United States and
French aircraft and defence group Dassault Aviation are vying for
the contract.
Singapore, which spends more on defence than any Southeast Asian
nation relative to the size of its economy, is known as a
sophisticated arms buyer and its choice of jet could influence
others countries considering new fighters.
One source at a supplier said Singapore was a tough client and that
"it's one of the hardest campaigns we have worked on".
PITCHING HARD
The Eurofighter consortium includes BAe Systems, Airbus parent EADS
and Italy's Finmeccanica. Britain lent support for the bid last
year by sending two of its Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Singapore
for evaluation.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie urged Singapore's
leaders to pick Dassault's Rafale fighter plane during a visit to
Singapore this week, echoing comments made by President Jacques
Chirac during an October visit.
The Rafale has yet to win its first export order after Dassault
lost out on orders from Norway, the Netherlands and South
Korea.
Singapore has also tested the F-15 fighter jets built by Boeing,
which is under pressure to win a deal that would help it extend
F-15 production beyond 2008.
All three of those multi-mission aircraft are much larger and more
effective than the old Skyhawks, which are considered good, light
bombers but are not fighters at all.
Singapore is armed to the teeth relative to its size of just 697
square km (436 square miles) and sees its modern weaponry, which
includes submarines, stealth frigates and combat jets, as a
necessary protection against all sorts of perceived threats.
At nearly a third of its US$18.3 billion budget, or 5 percent of
its US$110 billion economy, Singapore's defence spending is also
higher in relative terms than that of military superpowers such as
the United States, Britain and France when compared to total
government spending.
The tightly-controlled, predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state of
4.2 million people, is on the doorstep of mostly Muslim neighbours
Malaysia and Indonesia and believes it is a prime target for
regional group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a network linked to Osama bin
Laden's al Qaeda.
Last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong unveiled plans to spend
S$9.26 billion ($5.7 billion) on defence in Singapore's current
budget, up 7.4 percent from 2004.