Defence - Articles

The defence secretaries of India and Singapore signed an agreement on 9 October 2007 during the fourth India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue which increases India's involvement in Southeast Asia. It provides for regular training and exercises on a long-term basis for the Singapore Air Force at designated Indian air bases. India has been providing training to the defence personnel from Singapore since 2003, as mandated by the India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue, instituted under a bilateral defence cooperation agreement in 2003. Singapore Air Force personnel were receiving such training earlier in Kalaikunda in West Bengal, and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

Though the desire to have the training area for its defence forces was expressed for the first time during the visit of Singapore's then Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong in January 2004, the deal could not materialize due to India's uncertainty. The driving force for converting the periodic affair into a regular and institutionalized activity has come from the growth in the nature and scale of bilateral defence cooperation and the growing convergence of their strategic interests. Second, the rejection by the Indonesian Parliament of a similar Singapore-Indonesia defence pact, signed in July 2007, seems to have prompted Singapore to sign an agreement with India.

This agreement reflects two definitive trends in India's Look East Policy (LEP). First, it re-affirms the centrality of Singapore in the LEP by setting the stage for wide-ranging, institutionalized and long-term defence cooperation between the two countries. During the last fifteen years, Singapore has often set the tone and tenor of not only bilateral cooperation, but also the overall LEP. Singapore has played an important role in getting India the dialogue partnership in ASEAN, membership of ARF, expanding the arena of economic cooperation by signing a bilateral FTA with India, and engaging India in the politico-strategic deliberations proceeding within ASEAN.

Second, the defence pact highlights capacity-building as an important element of the LEP, the changing nature of India's capacity-building programme, and the advantages such exercises can offer India. The capacity-building programme, initiated after the addition of CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries into ASEAN, had primarily focused on the development of human resources, like computer training, entrepreneurship development, and English language training. Over the years, capacity- building in the defence sector has become more pronounced as evident from India's offer to build capacity in the maritime security sector during the annual meeting of the ARF in 2007. Viewed initially as India's contribution to the development of CLMV countries, the defence pact brings to light the benefits of such capacity-building programmes for India's own defence capability.

To understand the mutual benefits of this defence pact, three important aspects need be highlighted. First, Singapore will station a part of its defence facilities in India on a permanent basis. The pact envisages a five-year lease agreement being signed between the two countries, which assumes great significance since India has not entered into such an agreement with any foreign country; it allows the stationing of foreign defence troops and facilities in the country for the first time. The agreement helps Singapore to overcome its inability to train its Air Force given the extremely limited land and air space available. Singapore has signed similar agreements with other countries like Australia, France, Taiwan, Thailand, and USA.

Second, the two air forces of India and Singapore will engage in joint exercises, which will help them to develop inter-operability skills by familiarizing each other with different hardware versions, techniques, and software applications. The mainstay of the Indian Air Force are Russian fighter jets, which use different operating systems from the US fighter planes like the F-16, which form the main component of the Singapore Air Force. Such exercises will help the Indian Air Force assess the comparative capabilities of the US and Russian operating systems in terms of comprehensive air defence, strike capabilities, mid-air maneuverability and logistical complexities.

Finally, the agreement envisages the training of Singapore defence personnel at India's military installations, which Singapore will help to maintain and upgrade. Apart from the maintenance of these facilities, the Indian government will also receive a sum of money in return, which brings into focus the marketing potential of the Indian defence industry. Given Singapore's expertise in developing advanced infrastructure, India will be able to upgrade its defence facilities with the help of high-end technologies from Singapore. Moreover, Singapore will be allowed to build its own training facilities in designated areas in India for its own Air Force to be used over an extended time-frame.

The agreement, therefore, further extends India's military role in Southeast Asia. It remains to be seen how both of them develop their shared security interests and utilize each other's potential for mutual benefit.