AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
SINGAPORE: Singapore is looking to buy at least two mini unmanned surveillance aircraft, The Straits Times reported Monday.
The Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), the city-state's procurement arm, confirmed with AFP it had made enquiries with suppliers about the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) but gave no further details.
According to the Straits Times report, the DSTA has asked for two mini UAVs to be delivered by April 2006 with the option to buy another two by August, three by December and up to 20 by 2008.
It said the DSTA expects to hold flight evaluations in January or February on the UAVs which must carry cameras and sensors for day and night operations as well as feed video images to battalion headquarters and intelligence services.
The city-state has one of Asia's best equipped armed forces and has been spending around six percent of gross domestic product — its total economic output — annually on defense, a legacy of its vulnerable early days as a republic.
In September the ministry of defense announced it is negotiating with Boeing to buy a squadron of F-15 Eagle fighters, just two months after taking delivery of the first of six “stealth” frigates from French contractor DCN.
