FT, Singapore yesterday sent a clear signal to Lockheed Martin that it was not prepared to tie itself to one supplier of fighter aircraft when it excluded the US defence contractor from a key competition.
The decision came as a boost to the European fighter industry, which has struggled to win export orders, with both France's Dassault and Eurofighter joining Boeing of the US in the final round.
Russian rival Sukhoi fell at the first hurdle as Singapore narrowed the list of potential replacements for it's ageing A-4 ground attack aircraft from six to three.
The initial requirement is small with Singapore looking to buy just eight aircraft. A further 12 to 16 would follow with the potential for a total order in excess of 50 aircraft.
The Singapore competition is important to the tactical fighter makers because it is expected to be one of the last before Lockheed's new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is ready early in the next decade.
The exclusion of Lockheed, which had offered the latest version of its F-16, came as a shock to analysts. The US company had been widely tipped to win the contest because Singapore already has more than 70 F-16s and the current requirement was perceived as an interim acquisition.
Singapore has signalled its intention to buy the JSF and yesterday's exclusion of Lockheed suggests the city state has decided it did not want to become reliant on a single supplier.
“It is a big surprise to me that Lockheed was excluded,” said Richard Aboulafia, a consultant with Washington-based Teal Group. “This could be seen as the alternative in case JSF is delayed and to put pressure on Lockheed to deliver an aircraft that meets Singapore's requirements.”
Boeing, which had offered two aircraft, remains in the competition with the F-15 after the F-18 was excluded.
Singapore is expected to select the winning aircraft late next year or in 2005.
* Singapore's economy rebounded sharply in the third quarter, based on preliminary estimates, but officials warned a recovery would not immediately solve growing unemployment.
A “flash” estimate released yesterday predicted third-quarter growth of 15 per cent from the previous quarter, when the economy shrank by an annualised 11.4 per cent in the worst performance on record. Compared with a year ago, the economy expanded by 1 per cent.
