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A Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft is being deployed to Singapore amid growing tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea:
The United States has deployed a P-8 Poseidon spy plane to Singapore for the first time. It is the latest in a series of US military actions seen as a response to China's increasingly assertive claims over territory in the South China Sea.
The US says it will also base a military reconnaissance plane at Singapore's Paya Lebar air base. US P-8s already operate from Japan and the Philippines, and surveillance flights have taken off from Malaysia. The P-8 was deployed on Monday, and will remain in Singapore until 14 December.
In addition to the P-8 deployment, the US says it will operate a military plane, either a P-8 Poseidon or a P-3 Orion, from Singapore for the foreseeable future, rotating planes on a quarterly basis. The US-Singapore agreement, announced after a meeting in Washington on Monday between US Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, also covers co-operation on counter-terrorism, fighting piracy, and disaster relief.
Previously: China's Island Factory
China Builds Artificial Islands in South China Sea
Chinese Weaponry Spotted on Artificial Islands
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:36PM
That's an odd way to spell "anti-submarine warfare plane".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:44PM
More like over-priced rudimentary ocean surveillance.
The P-8 sucks as an ASW platform: no MAD (magnetic anomaly detector) and too high a minimum air speed for precision low-altitude torpedo drops.
The Orion and Nimrod, and even the Tu-142, are more effective in the ASW role.
Hey, Boeing needed to keep that 737 line running somehow, didn't it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-8_Poseidon [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Thursday December 10 2015, @10:40PM
Hey, Boeing needed to keep that 737 line running somehow, didn't it
Where do you get your data, Trumpopedia? Boeing delivers almost 500 737's a year and has an 8-year order backlog.
It could replace the whole P-8 inventory in a month.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Aichon on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:44PM
It's both. It serves multiple roles, including anti-submarine, anti-surface, and electronic intelligence. But one look at the thing will tell you (since it looks more like a passenger jet or an AWAX than it does a fighter craft or a bomber) that it's not intended to get in a scrap by itself. It basically drops sonar buoys, listens to the airwaves, and then has some torpedoes and depth charges for if it needs them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:50PM
AWAX? That a competitor for http://www.barnes.com.au/release-agents/j-wax-aerosal-can-1220 [barnes.com.au] ?
Or did you mean AWACS?
(Score: 2) by Aichon on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:56PM
Thanks for the correction. Quite right. Mea culpa.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday December 10 2015, @10:11PM
He was thinking of a Brazilian spy plane.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday December 11 2015, @05:22AM
Looks like a passenger plane because it is a 737 painted grey.
The adversary that that makes the mistake of thinking it wasn't intended to get into a scrap by itself would quickly be educated to the fact it can drop a whole lot more than sonar buoys and depth charges. Maybe clicking the first link in TFS would help?
Simply because it can pick up radio signals does not make it a spy plane. A crop duster can pick up radio signals.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:03PM
Big Earl: Alright guys, I'm not gonna lie to you. This is gonna get kinda weird... Two dragons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:06PM
http://gifsoup.com/view/1038815/starsky-and-hutch.html [gifsoup.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @05:28PM
What does Ryulong [reddit.com] have to do with this?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @03:14PM
should that first sentence rather read:
"The Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft deployed to Singapore IS ADDING to the growing tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea"?
so far the chinese are just "playing in the sand" albeit with grown-up toys that can move quiet a bit more sand on the beach then your regular plastic baby-shovel.
seriously tho i hope they will also have back-packer camping areas on these island. 12 bucks per night if you bring our own tent. Spear-fishing is ok ^_^
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 10 2015, @04:37PM
Singapore is worried about a foreign nation coming in, so it's inviting a foreign nation in to help protect it.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday December 10 2015, @05:08PM
Yep, and the US can't do anything about China's actions, so they send a token of support.
The fact that it justifies that a US plane has to take a different flight path to potentially listen in on all the parties involved is purely coincidental.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @08:30PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @12:01AM
"so far the chinese are just "playing in the sand" albeit with grown-up toys that can move quiet a bit more sand on the beach then your regular plastic baby-shovel."
Threatening another nation's naval assets as they pass through isn't "playing in the sand," it's clear territorial grabbing, especially when said nation has rights over the territory as per international law.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @05:39PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @06:45PM
If the US military doesn't know, they've been wasting even more tax dollars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @11:37PM
You do realize that MH370 disappeared halfway between Australia and Antarctica, in the vastest middle of nowhere imaginable on this planet, right? Not near China, the Spratleys, Singapore, or anything else even remotely interesting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @06:19AM
You do realize that MH370 disappeared halfway between Australia and Antarctica
1) What makes you so sure? Just those satellite pings?
2) It may have disappeared at that location, but guess where it was flying FROM?
It's not so easy to find a random needle in a haystack. HOWEVER if you know where a particular needle was originally you can follow the path of the needle from the relevant pictures.
There's plenty of satellite coverage, not like the US military is going to say too much about it:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/03/20/behind-the-spy-satellite-tech-that-led-mh370-investigators-to-australia/ [washingtonpost.com]
(Score: 1) by BrockDockdale on Thursday December 10 2015, @08:51PM
Hey all you millions reading about this all over the whole internet, whatever you do, DON'T TELL ANYBODY ABOUT THE SPY PLANE, OK!!?!?!