Looking at the recent procurements of military hardware by Singapore and Malaysia, mostly equipment that is not meant for local hotspots or littoral warfare, its interesting too to hear from one forumnite in Asia & Pacific Defence Forum offer his views too..
Sigh....! Why is it always that when either Singapore or Malaysia gets a some new toy to play with it has to be seen as directed at one another. Singapore gets Apache by 2006, means Malaysia must get something by 2006...
Do you guys actually realise that many of Malaysia's and Singapore's recent military procurements are long-range military assets? Su-30s, frigates, submarines, Astros, and so on so forth. For what?
Read this article, and you might also wonder if 2006 is gonna be a difficult year.
"The year of fear for Taiwan: 2006", written by a Janes Defence Weekly writer:
http://taiwansecurity.org/News/2004/AT-100404.htm
It might also be a year of fear for South East Asia as a whole as this may descend to regional chaos - and that includes Malaysia and Singapore.
Malaysia and Singapore has no history of war against one another. But they do have a history of military occupation in WW2. Both militaries draw their lessons from that event. Therefore, if something really happens in the Taiwan Straits in 2006, its a domino effect. In fact, just do a search on what military hardware will be ready by then on both sides of the Straits, and you'll be shock
It is quite important that we try to overlook the suface rivalry between us and Malaysia because if a naval war breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, it will have serious and dire consequences on the South East Asian Region.Why is Singapore actively pursuing the Delta-Class frigate project and doing serious research on UAVs for naval platforms?And so is Malaysia, modernising their naval fleet with the Leiku class warships.
Both nations are investing huge dollars into BVR guided missiles and the question on most military planners and watchers' lips is probably, will we get involved or dragged into a naval war between Taiwan and China?If so, to what extent?It only often takes a small spark to ignite a bonfire, it could very well begin with a RSN warship escorting a supertanker/freighter thru the Straits, getting caught in the crossfire and the first defensive salvos are fired.It may sound incredulous now but those who look beyond the surface are usually the most prepared..So, do you think we will get involved? (P.S I would love to see a hypothetical scenario where RSN and the RMN both defend the South China Sea and the Spratlys..)
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