Maybe not that useful. Arleigh Burkes are really just platforms
for the AEGIS system, so their almost exclusive purpose is to
provide air defence against enemy missile swarm attacks.
So, they're obviously useful to the US Navy, because they provide
valuable protection for aircraft carriers, which would be the first
target for missile attacks in an engagement. Taiwan is trying to
procure Arleigh Burkes because of the mass missile threat being
deployed against them by China.
Would they be all that useful for Singapore? I doubt so - our
potential wartime enemies don't possess the missile capability that
would justify us investing in AEGIS. AEGIS is an expensive system,
designed to intercept massive, large scale missile strikes - and
none of our enemies have the ability to launch such an attack of
that sort. Sure, our enemies do have missiles on their warships,
and AEGIS could deal with them quite easily, but that would be a
waste of resources. Hammer to crack a walnut, and all that.
What's more, the Arleigh Burke is a destroyer class ship, and our
navy doesn't currently have any ships even nearing that size /
displacement. We don't even have frigates yet, our biggest ships
are the Missile Corvettes.
So, if the RSN bought Arleigh Burkes, its budget would have to
skyrocket dramatically; not only would there be great expense
involved in procuring the AEGIS systems, but the RSN would also
have to fork out the additional cost of maintaining and supplying
the destroyer-size ships which float those systems.
Not much point in that - for a fraction of the price, you could buy
yourself a nice fleet of second hand submarines, which are far more
versatile and much better suited to the RSN's needs.
