(S) COUNTRY TEAM SUPPORTS SALE OF GLOBAL HAWK TO

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


NNNN




End Cable Text