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Can the region meet pressing requirements for new military aircraft?
Southeast Asia is a region of great strategic importance, categorised by critical chokepoints such as the Straits of Malacca and contested maritime regions including the South China Sea.
When it comes to airpower, the state has limitless requirements for updates that include fighters, helicopters, and aircraft that can support missions such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as anti-submarine warfare, and maritime patrol.
Consisting of 11 countries, this vast area faces significant geopolitical challenges, periodic natural disasters, and some countries face very real internal security issues. Having been hard hit by the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, government finances are strained, thus affecting defence spending as well.
In a recent Flight Global Webinar Series in association with the Singapore Airshow, a panel of industry experts came together to discuss the key challenges and potential of air power in Southeast Asia.
Sean Liedman, a director with Boeing’s Mobility and Surveillance International Sales organisation, mentions that Southeast Asia has two geographical characteristics that distinguish them from other regions. This includes the vast distances between the region, as well as the fact that the volume of maritime domain vastly exceeds the volume of the land domain. The characteristics thus lead to four high-level requirements for military aircraft including: range, speed, persistence, and multi-mission capability.
Dr. Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at ASPI, adds that the region currently faces two very real and urgent risks, and states will have to think of the sorts of capabilities they should acquire to balance their security interests in the South China Sea, as well as internal unrest and terrorism threats. While states currently have the tendency to invest in small numbers of multiple types of aircraft, Dr, Davis recommends investing in maintaining a high level of capability for one or two types of multi-role aircrafts instead to best defend their interests against a rising China.
With that being said, majority of the countries need to shift from a product to solution mindset according to Raymond Corrigan, Principal Consultant for CCGI-LLC. Currently, many in the region are buying what their neighbours have, instead of starting with an analysis of external and internal threat their air force is likely to face to find out where their capabilities fall short.
Southeast Asia needs to start thinking of how they can invest in this next generation capabilities and embrace autonomous systems given the limitations in economics and finances.
States will also have to factor in the possibility of a high-intensity interstate war between China and the U.S. over Taiwan in this decade, and consider how well placed they are to deal with that scenario.
