Singaporean Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen has introduced that F-35 fifth technology fighters have been actively engaged in missions within the Ukrainian theatre, and had been deployed to pinpoint the areas of Russian air defence techniques. “In latest actions, america has mobilised its F-35s to determine the deployment of Russian anti-aircraft missile techniques inside Ukraine. The gathered intelligence is subsequently disseminated to NATO nations,” he acknowledged at a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Procurement. His assertion follows the announcement on February 28 that Singapore would make its first acquisitions of F-35A fighters, following prior orders for 12 F-35Bs to modernise its fleet. This was rapidly adopted by a response from a Pentagon spokesman, who declined to touch upon the assertion, asserting: “It’s not my place to talk for Singapore’s MOD [Ministry of Defence] or attempt to make clear his feedback.” “I can verify that the U.S. doesn’t fly F-35s in Ukraine,” he added.
Minister Ng’s assertion notably didn’t suggest that F-35s had been deploying in Ukrainian airspace, with the vary of the plane’s sensors permitting it to function as described from effectively exterior the nation. The Pentagon spokesman’s refutation thus didn’t tackle the problem raised by the Defence Minister, however merely the way it could have been misinterpreted. F-35s had been ahead deployed to Germany’s Spangdahlem Air Base from February 16, 2022 shortly earlier than hostilities in Ukraine broke out, with the U.S. Air Pressure 388th Fighter Wing and the Air Pressure Reserve’s 419th Fighter Wing being the primary to reach within the theatre. The plane had been deployed with a major mission of gathering digital knowledge on Russian positions and specifically its floor to air missile belongings. The fighters are optimum belongings for such missions as a consequence of their distinctive avionics, explicit their sensors and digital intelligence capabilities, with the plane having been designed with strike missiles and suppression of air defences as a major focus quite than air to air fight.
Relating to operations in Jap Europe, commander of the 388th Fighter Wing Colonel Craig Andrle elaborated in an interview in early 2023: “We weren’t crossing the border. We’re not capturing something or dropping something. However the jet is all the time sensing, gathering data. And it was doing that very, very effectively… We had all hoped it was going to work prefer it’s alleged to, however then to see it really carry out very, very effectively in that function was nice.” He added that the F-35s confronted challenges when encountering Russian lengthy vary air defence techniques, noting: “We’re taking a look at an SA-20. I do know it’s an SA-20. Intel says there’s an SA-20 there, however now my jet doesn’t ID it as such, as a result of that SA-20 is working, probably, in a struggle reserve mode that we haven’t seen earlier than.” The SA-20 is a NATO reporting title for superior variants of the S-300 air defence system, particularly the S-300PM-1 and PM-2.
388th Operations Group Commander Colonel Brad Bashore noticed relating to operations to gather data on Russian air defence techniques: “We don’t have a ton of weapons the place we will decimate the complete house. We’re sharing knowledge and ensuring that everyone has consciousness — surface-to-air and air-to-air — of what’s on the market within the atmosphere.” He added: “They’re doing the identical factor that we’re doing. We simply checked out one another… No direct interplay and nothing that was unprofessional on both facet.” Operations towards Russian air defence techniques symbolize the closest the F-35 had come to operations in a excessive depth struggle zone, even when just for digital surveillance functions, which thus made these deployments worthwhile to spotlight by the Singaporean Defence Minister when he sought to defend the choice to accumulate the plane.
The elevating of the F-35’s report of deployments towards Russian air defence belongings was significantly essential because of the vital controversies surrounding the fighter class, which even in america suffers from a few of the poorest availability charges within the fleet in addition to roughly 800 efficiency defects, and which as a consequence of vital overruns in its manufacturing and operational prices will drive the Singaporean Defence Ministry to make main cuts to accommodate. It stays unsure to what extent the F-35’s wartime operational report within the Ukrainian theatre, reminiscent of it’s, could have influenced Singapore’s choice to speculate extra closely in this system, or what intelligence on these operations was offered to the nation by america.
