O 011004Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5593
INFO ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
SECDEF WASHDC
USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
NSC WASHINGTON DC
HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

S E C R E T SINGAPORE 000834 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2028 
TAGS: PREL PARM MASS SN
 
SUBJECT: (S) COUNTRY TEAM SUPPORTS SALE OF GLOBAL HAWK TO 
SINGAPORE 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold for Reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
¶1.  (S) Summary: The Embassy Singapore Country Team supports 
USPACOM's position endorsing the proposed sale of the Global 
Hawk (GH) High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial 
Vehicle (UAV) to Singapore and the renegotiation of Missile 
Technology Control Regime (MTCR) restrictions for that 
purpose.  Embassy Singapore believes the sale would generate 
significant forward momentum in the already excellent 
bilateral relationship, the political underpinning for the 
Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) which ensures access by 
U.S. military forces to Singapore's extraordinary air and sea 
transport facilities.  Singapore is more than likely to 
acquire Global Hawk-like capabilities, from Israel if not 
from the United States, so it would be preferable if 
Singapore acquired these capabilities in a way that advanced 
U.S. defense, diplomatic and commercial interests.  The 
Embassy Singapore Country Team believes the USG can and 
should leverage the potential sale a) to persuade Singapore 
to provide real-time USG access to GH data, which would fit 
into our broader agenda of greater cooperation with Singapore 
on intelligence and information sharing and b) to convince 
Singapore to go beyond the steps it has already taken to 
incorporate aspects of the MTCR into Singapore's export 
control system.  While strongly supporting the proposed sale, 
we defer to Washington on assessing the "beyond Singapore" 
nonproliferation and regional policy implications.  End 
Summary. 
 
Singapore's Request to Purchase Global Hawk 
 
¶2.  (S) In July 2006, Singapore requested Pricing and 
Availability for two Global Hawks to replace the Republic of 
Singapore Armed Forces' (RSAF's) current Maritime Patrol 
Aircraft (MPA).  The RSAF already have a UAV Command 
established and are flying smaller, less capable UAVs.  GH 
would provide Singapore greater range, duration and mission 
capability/flexibility than the MPA aircraft and would fly 
well above the congested airways of this region, which limit 
the operations of Singapore's current inventory of UAVs.  At 
present Singapore's MPA flies the "Eyes in the Sky" Joint Air 
Patrol, sharing the maritime picture with Malaysia and 
Indonesia.  Discussions are underway to include Thailand. 
Singapore has stated that if it gets Global Hawk it will 
provide the GH maritime surveillance picture to both 
Indonesia and Malaysia.  Singapore recently broke ground on a 
multinational Command and Control (C2) Center at Changi Naval 
Base, which is designed to facilitate information sharing 
among regional nations to include the United States, with the 
goal of ultimately enhancing maritime security in the Strait 
of Malacca. 
 
MTCR Category I Item 
 
¶3.  (S) An issue that emerged as the USG considered the sale 
of GH to Singapore was the fact that Singapore is not an MTCR 
Partner and the sale of any MTCR Category I item (including 
UAVs like Global Hawk) carries a strong presumption of 
denial.  (Note: If Global Hawk were a manned aircraft no such 
issue would arise.)  It has not been possible thus far for 
the USG to win consensus within MTCR for downgrading UAVs 
like Global Hawk from Category I to Category II. 
 
PACOM Endorsement 
 
¶4.  (S) In March 2008, USPACOM endorsed the sale of Global 
Hawk to Singapore and supported renegotiation of MTCR 
restrictions for that purpose.  PACOM noted that the sale 
would strengthen U.S.-Singapore trust and improve 
interoperability.  It would enhance Intelligence, 
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) in support of War on 
Terror operations.  It may open opportunities for ISR 
sharing, given Singapore's statements that it will share 
imagery with Indonesia and Malaysia for maritime security, 
PACOM noted. 
 
Embassy Singapore Country Team Position 
 
¶5.  (S) The Embassy Singapore Country Team supports PACOM's 
position.  Embassy Singapore believes the sale would generate 
significant forward momentum in the already excellent 
bilateral relationship, the political underpinning for the 
Strategic Framework Agreement, which ensures access by U.S. 
military forces to Singapore's extraordinary air and sea 
transport facilities.  Global Hawk for Singapore would be 
consistent with the Secretary of Defense's 2007 Security 
Cooperation Guidance and would provide the surveillance 
capability to detect and share intelligence on piracy, some 
terrorist activities, and potentially WMD shipments, thus 
deterring such activities in the Strait of Malacca.  Global 
Hawk also holds great promise in providing real-time ISR in 
an area prone to natural disasters and is a perfect fit to 
provide ISR for the Changi C2 Center as it develops as a 
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) 
multinational command center. 
 
Alternative Israeli ISR Platform? 
 
¶6.  (S) Singapore is more than likely to acquire Global 
Hawk-like capabilities, probably from Israel if not from the 
United States, so it would be preferable if Singapore 
acquired these capabilities in a way that advanced U.S. 
defense, diplomatic, and commercial interests.  Singapore's 
current UAV inventory is exclusively Israeli with two 
separate and distinct models in the UAV command.  Singapore 
has been in discussion with Israel and is monitoring the 
development of an alternative, yet unfielded, Israeli ISR 
platform expected to be comparable to GH. 
 
Leveraging the Sale 
 
¶7.  (S)  The Embassy Singapore Country Team believes the USG 
can and should leverage the potential sale to persuade 
Singapore to provide real-time USG access to GH data, which 
would fit into our broader agenda of greater cooperation with 
Singapore on intelligence and information sharing.  We should 
also leverage the sale to convince Singapore to go beyond the 
steps it already took in January 2008 to make its export 
control regime consistent with the MTCR.  Post supports 
Washington efforts to find a way forward that makes it 
possible for us to sell GH to Singapore while preserving the 
effectiveness of the MTCR. 
 
Assessing the Regional Implications 
 
¶8.  (S) While strongly supporting the proposed sale, we defer 
to other Embassies regarding the potential impact on other 
bilateral relationships and to Washington, particularly State 
EAP, on assessing the "beyond Singapore" regional policy 
implications.  We note that the United States has sold 
advanced military equipment before to Singapore (F-15SG, 
F-16s, AMRAAM, Apaches, etc.) with no apparent negative 
repercussions.  Even Singapore's recent purchase of the 
F-15SG with its AESA radar, AIM-9X missiles and 29,000 lbs. 
of bomb carrying capacity has not raised any noticeable 
negative reactions from neighboring countries.  However, to 
mitigate potential regional concerns in the past, the USG has 
required Singapore to base previously sold U.S. military 
systems, such as the AMRAAM missile and Apache Longbow 
helicopters, in the United States for some time period prior 
to introduction into Singapore.  Singapore has discussed 
requesting U.S. permission to base the Singapore GH,s with a 
U.S. GH unit in Guam, as Singapore has done with the other 
aircraft, to mitigate any potential regional concerns. 
 
Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm 
HERBOLD 
 
 
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End Cable Text