Quora Answer: Is Singapore Considered a Naval Power in the Region?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Is Singapore considered a naval power in the region, given that it has one of the largest, and most advanced, fleets of submarines?” 

The question is a bit vague.  In overall terms, the largest, and most advanced, navy present in Southeast Asia is the US Navy.  They have berthing rights at Changi Naval Base, the only naval base large enough to accommodate the largest US carriers in this region.  The 5^th and 7^th Fleet both use Singapore for refitting and shore leave. 

Many people look at the Global Firepower Ranking, which is useless, since it considers only manpower, and how many toys the listed navies have, regardless of competency, application, force doctrine, and logistics.  By that measure, Indonesia could put a million fishermen in motorised sampans, and obsolete derelicts, and still be considered to have a higher ranking than a single missile corvette.  It is an amateurish way to consider the question.  A better understanding of the RSN’s capability is found here: The 5 Most Deadly Navies in Asia.  According to them, the RSN is the 4^th deadliest navy in Asia, not just Southeast Asia.  In terms of naval power within Southeast Asian nations, Singapore has the most advanced navy.  This includes a lot more submarines than we care to admit to.  However, we can look at we do have that is declassified. 

Singapore fields six Formidable-class stealth frigates.  They are our derivative of the French Navy's La Fayette-class frigate.  There is no equivalent in the region, outside the USN.  This gives us an anti-air blanket that allows us to shoot planes with impunity since none of our immediate neighbours have the technology to lock on, let alone interdict them.  Singapore fields six victory class corvettes, which have anti-submarine capability.  They are the fastest vessels in the fleet.  As a quick response force, they have the ability to detect and hunt down any submarine in the shallow waters of Southeast Asia.  Singapore will retire its Endurance-class LSTs after 2020.  They will be replaced with the Joint Multi Mission Ship.  The JMMS is essentially an aircraft carrier in all but name.  Coupled with Singapore’s intent to evaluate the purchase of the F-35s, which have STOL capability, this is an obvious leap in force projection.  Singapore is the only country in Southeast Asia that has an extensive sea and air heavy lift capability.  This means it has the actual capability to send a significant military force to take ground elsewhere. 

Indonesia, for example, for all its manpower, does not have that capability.  We can see this from their delayed response during natural disasters such as the Aceh tsunami.  Indonesia tried a short cut to make up for their lack of surface craft by mass purchasing from the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Navy in 1992.  The initial acquisition was thirty-nine used craft of various types.  This swelled to more than sixty ships, and numerous smaller vessels.  Based on this, sites such as Global Firepower Ranking claim that Indonesia has a strong naval presence.  What is not considered is that these vessels were built to function in colder North Atlantic waters, not tropical waters.  The tropics severely degraded them, and they were essentially scrap by the time they arrived.  They were also obsolete upon purchase, and Indonesia did not set aside the funds to upgrade them.  The Asian Financial Crisis ended any such notions. 

Malaysia’s military is in even worse shape.  They cannot even secure their coastline against ragtag militants from Sabah, let alone a modern navy.  Corruption also ensured that whatever they did purchase was obsolete, non-performing or simply never turned up.  Malaysia has submarines they dare not put out to sea because they are so unsafe, they would kill their own crew before any hostile action did.  Their surface craft are outdated, and due to a lack of training and poor management, they are not a cohesive fighting force. 

Vietnam has a large military, but their equipment is obsolete.  They are currently in a modernisation phase, and have not reached the level where they can look at doctrine and force multiplication.  As Vietnam’s economy improves and the country gets wealthier, this will be remedied, but they are thirty years behind. 

Thailand has a good military, but the navy has been neglected when compared to the Army, which makes sense because they have porous land borders to secure.  Thailand did flirt with the idea of having an aircraft carrier, but that is a vanity project when they do not have adequate surface fleet support.  Aircraft carriers do not function on their own.

 

Brunei has the wealth, but it is run like Disneyland.  They bought several dozen helicopters when they had only two pilots then.  They managed to wreck a patrol craft by grounding it on rocks, in their own waters, during sea trial, and refused to pay BAE for the damage.  They are a bigger threat to themselves. 

The Philippines has no functioning navy to speak of.  Most of their tiny budget is spent on beefing up their anti-insurgency capabilities.  Whilst there is a need to secure their littoral waters, there is a greater need to quell two insurgencies: one in the restive South, and the Communist NPA in Luzon’s interior. 

Singapore’s military budget dwarfs the rest of Southeast Asia, and it shows.  Whether in terms of overall budget, which is in excess of US$10 billion, in terms of per capita spending, which is just over US$1,500 per soldier, no country has that sort of money, and the technology gap is huge.  Additionally, because we have the money, we have the means to run regular exercises, which our less wealthy neighbours cannot.  For example, there was an FPDA exercise where Singapore sent its F-16s; the UK and Australia sent their fighter wings.  Malaysia sent a Cessna, because they could not get their aircraft airworthy due to neglect and a lack of investment in parts. 

In a series of exercises almost thirty years ago, the SAF, Angkatan Tentera Malaysia, and the Australian Defence Force amongst others, went up against a US carrier fleet playing Opfor.  The carrier itself was found off Butterworth, by the Australians, not Malaysians.  A carrier is not a small vessel.  This demonstrates how useless the Malaysians were then.  I doubt anything has changed when an entire airliner, MH370, could disappear in 2014, and Malaysian radar was not able to track it.  The other significant development in this exercise was that the RSAF was able to “sink” an entire US carrier fleet, which both demonstrated our competence, and jolted the USN into major doctrinal changes.  Prior to this, only the IAF had managed it. 

The RSN exercises regularly, and that includes a lot of live firing exercises.  This is something only a wealthy nation can afford.  It also exercises with foreign navies, especially the USN, and has exchange programmes.  We deploy for humanitarian missions, which gives us a lot of experience. 

In terms of doctrine, the RSN is in the process of deploying a drone fleet, as well as beefing up its command and control.  It is also investing in the less sexy aspects of running a navy, such as using small diagnostics and data analytics for enhanced maritime security, and a faster turnaround time for vessels in dock. 

Another aspect that we have that no other naval force indigenous to Southeast Asia has, is investing significantly in is satellites and signals intelligence.  You cannot fight an enemy if you do not know where they are.  And we have significant electronic countermeasure capabilities.  They cannot shoot their missiles at us if they cannot lock on to us. 

Contributing to the staying power of the RSN is our indigenous shipbuilding capability.  Singapore does not just buy its weapon systems off the shelf.  We buy entire production lines and technologies, and we modify them and build on them.  This is a lesson we learned during the Konfrontasi, when Bofors, of Sweden, refused to supply more ammunition to Malaya.  Because we make our own weapons, and we build our own ships, we do not worry that our arms suppliers might decide to cut us off due to political pressure. 

The RSN does not shout its capabilities from the rooftops, but to those who genuinely have an understanding of force analysis, it is quite obviously the big fish in a small pond.  Singaporeans have every right to be proud of our navy, and the people who serve in it.