Singapore Airshow 2018

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Hey all. It's been a long time since I have posted here... but I have been lurking...

I had the opportunity to cover the Singapore Airshow and Aerospace Expo (It's in my hood since I live in Jakarta, Indonesia now.)

I thought some of you might find these images interesting. I spent four days at the trade fair, and it was truly fascinating talking to all the different aircrews and manufacturers about our FASC and FAMC requirements. Especially the RAAF P-8 crews who probably said some stuff that did not go along with the 'official narrative'. All the manufacturers were there, and some, especially the Leonardo, Saab, Embraer and Kawasaki, were very forthcoming with info. I wrote a 4000-word article about the Saab Swordfish offer, in comparison to the P8, for Kiwiflyer, which was then edited down to 2000 words... I'll ask the editor if I can post it on the 'P3 replacement' forum if you like. Usually, he doesn't care, since it makes no difference to his circulation.

For those of you thinking of going to this airshow, I thoroughly recommend it, with the caveat that being used to the style of airshow we have here in New Zealand you might be slightly disappointed in some respects... Operating out of a major international airport such as Changi means that flying displays are restricted to just an hour each trading day, with two sets of 45mins each on the public days. The exhibition centre is off-airport, so the flying displays take place out over the water next to the venue, and occur substantially further away than they do in NZ. This means there are no opportunities to see the aircraft taxi, take off or land. Photographically the usual ‘Asian-haze’ in the atmosphere creates a bright backdrop against which it is difficult to get a clear exposure, especially if the aircraft is dark. Singapore is a very expensive city, and with the ‘Uber’ and ‘Grab’ companies banned from the event due to security concerns, sitting in the long queues in a taxi proved an expensive process. In hindsight, this author recommends getting accommodation closer to a train station rather than to the airport. It was unfortunate that the highly anticipated South Korean Black Eagles display team was forced to pull out of the flying display for the entire week. On the first day of the airshow, Feb 6th, one of their KAI T-50 Golden Eagle aircraft skidded off the runway on take-off, flipped and caught fire. The pilot walked away with minor injuries, but it was enough to ground the entire team. The runway was closed for several hours, which caused intense travel delays that reverberated across the globe.

I hope it's ok to post this much info and photos. If not, feel free to delete it Dave.

Anyway, here are some photos and commentary from the airshow, first the military stuff from Singapore:

Republic of Singapore Air Force:

This year’s event coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Singapore Airforce, who put a unique demonstration team together comprising one F-15SG and two F-16C fighter jets. The static line-up included three F-15SG’s, with one in the anniversary livery, three F-16 C/D’s, two AH-64D Apache, an AS332 Super Puma, CH-47SG Chinook, C-130H Hercules, S-70B Seahawk, Heron 1 and Hermes 450 UAVs and a G550 AEW aircraft.There was no talk either way from the Singaporeans as to whether their plan to base F-16 or F-15 aircraft at Ohakea has progressed any further. Given the limited airspace the Singaporeans have to use in their home nation, much of the RSAF is deployed overseas for training, some of it permanently. The RSAF currently has Pilatus PC-21 trainers and AS532UL helicopters deployed to Australia, M346’s in France, and AH-64D’s, CH-47’s, F-16’s, F-15s deployed to the US. From what I could glean at the event, the deployment to Ohakea would be more of a permanent operational deployment as opposed to a purely training one, though the ability to conduct ‘combined-ops’ training with their land forces, who regularly deploy to Waiouru, was mentioned as a big factor.

(Apologies... looks like my automated lo-res conversion process has done wierd things to the resolution of these... It will have to do for now!)

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USAF - USN - US Marines

A pair of US Marine F-35B Lightning II made their Asian debut, while the USAF brought two F-22 Raptors, an E-3D Sentry AWACS, KC135 tanker, C-17 Globemaster and RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV. The USN had a P-8 Posideon. On Saturday afternoon a USAF B-52 from Guam performed a flyby as part of a non-stop flight. The US Pacific Air Force’s F-16 Demonstration Team performed the same display daily they did at the RNZAF’s Air Tattoo at Ohakea, flown by the same pilot, Major Smeeding, except this time flares were being released at each twist and turn. The aircrew were all relaxed and talkative, despite the oppressive heat.

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Royal Malaysian Air Force

The RMAF Sukhoi Su-30MKM most definitely stole the show during the air displays! The thrust-vectored super-manoeuvrability rendering it more like a ballet dancer than an eighteen-tonne fighter-bomber. Whether that ability is operationally useful in the modern context may be contentious, but it is indeed impressive to watch especially when it unleashes its full load of flare IR countermeasures. In recent years a large number of these Russian ‘Flanker’ derivatives have entered the inventories of Air Forces across Asia, including Malaysia (18), Indonesia (16+11), India (272), China (175 + 200 of their own copies), Vietnam (40+), Myanmar (6).
Of great interest was the RMAF Airbus A400M Atlas in the static display, one of 4 they have ordered. Airbus made good use of its presence, corralling a stream of delegates through the aircraft as they attempt to sway more defence ministries towards purchasing the aircraft, with our NZDF high on that list. The sheer size of the aircraft is obvious, especially when it shares the static display with the C-17, which boasts twice the payload capacity for a marginal increase in size.

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Royal Thai Air Force:

The RTAF brought two SAAB JAS-39C/D Gripen multi-role fighters to the airshow, with one performing a flying display each day. These light, nimble fighters set the benchmark in capability vs affordability and operating cost, with SAAB’s new ‘E’ version of the aircraft offering a world-class fighting capability with a purchase price ¾ that of a modern F-16 and half the flight per hour cost. SAAB is very keen to sell this fighter across Asia and the Pacific, with interest in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The biggest prize for SAAB will be India, where they are offering not just the Gripen E for their MRCA competition, but also their ‘Sea Gripen’, a navalised version to operate from India’s new aircraft carriers.

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Here is something you might find interesting... the Chinese company call ‘Star’ showed its AT200 Cargo UAV, which are Pacific Aerospace P750XLs converted into unmanned aircraft. The company advertises fully automated operations with a 1.5ton payload into unpaved landing strips of 300m, at day or night. The STAR representatives said they buy completed P750’s and fly them to China, where they carry out the conversion to an unmanned platform.



Embraer's beautifully painted E190-E2 prototype was in the static display. The hand-painted ‘Tiger’ livery was a nod to their bullish ambitions in the Asia region. Big news was that Embraer announced one of the few actual new-airframe orders in the form of six KC-390 Multi-Mission Tactical Transports to aviation services firm SkyTech, which is a collaboration between HiFly, from Portugal, and Adagold Aviation from Australia. This is a big deal for us here in New Zealand and our Future Air Mobility Capability requirement. SkyTech plans to supply the aircraft to military customers under lease arrangements, with deliveries starting from 2020, which is an interesting confluence of timing and airframe numbers given the RNZAF’s need to replace its five Hercules from 2021… Skytech will acquire the aircraft to full NATO specifications, including its Air to Air refuelling option. While it is not known if this is a path that the NZDF wishes to go down, the arrangement not only reduces start-up costs by removing the acquisition element, but also permits upgrading at the end of the lease term, with SkyTech taking the outgoing aircraft and re-leasing them to other air forces at a lower rate. Meanwhile, the original leasee could acquire a fleet of much newer aircraft, allowing the force to maintain currency with technology and refresh the operational fleet at reduced intervals compared with a traditional outright acquisition program (AINOnline). SkyTech and Embraer also announced a strategic partnership to explore this concept further.
Also relevant to us, is that it appears a joint venture between Boeing and Embraer will be created, 80-90% owned by Boeing and based in Chicago, with Embraer’s CEO John Slattery as its COO. This will certainly put pressure on Bombardier who will see its two main competitors join forces, following on from the new deal between Bombardier and Airbus. After much domestic political hand-wringing over the deal, Embraer’s defence business would remain under Brazilian control and operate in Brazil itself, but with Boeing supporting the KC-390 internationally. Having Boeing support the KC390 is another tick of the box for the NZDF’s FAMC requirement.




The French manufacturer Dassault brought its Falcon 8X and Falcon 2000 LXS business jets. The performance specifications of these jets are amazing, with the Falcon 8X capable of travelling 12,000 km’s at Mach 0.9, enough to fly direct from London to Hong Kong, or New York to Beijing, while operating from runways as short as 1,200m. One of the main drawcards of Dassault’s Falcon 8X range is its three PW307D engines. Three engines not only offers an inherent increase in safety but also allows greater ETOPS distance and therefore more direct routes. Check out 8X’s Honeywell Primus Epic ‘EASy’ flight deck.



Airbus had their very long A350-1000 XWB in the static display, as part of its demonstration tour of Asia and the Middle East. This aircraft has proven to meet or exceed all performance specifications, especially the noise it produces, which now allows it to reach the stringent noise criteria for night-time operations into Heathrow. It also has better than expected airfield performance, while its smaller cousin, the A350-900, of which 142 have been delivered, has proved to have a remarkable dispatch reliability of 99.3%. Of particular interest to New Zealand was Airbus’s announcement that they are looking at offering a militarised version of their A320-Neo as a surveillance and maritime patrol platform, mentioning New Zealand as an interested customer. But given that it is still very much a ‘paper-airplane’, unless the development moved very quickly indeed it is an unlikely contender for the NZDF’s ‘Future Air Surveillance Capability’ requirement to replace our own P-3’s in 2025.

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After the mishap with the Golden Eagles The TNI-AU’s Jupiter Display team, with their KAI KT-1B trainers, were the only formation aerobatic display team. They were a huge hit with the audience on the public days. While we in NZ might be used to seeing this kind of flying, it was obviously new to much of the audience, since you could hear them scream in fright every time the aircraft performed close head-on passes, and the common ‘mirror’ manoeuvre received something of a standing ovation!

[Dave Homewood]

Fantastic photos and coverage Chris, wow!

I love that Tiger livery on the Embraer E-190.

[Deleted]

Some very cool photos of very mean machines, thanks heaps for sharing along with the informative write-up.

I know it makes the RCS grow but man oh man, there's something about drop tanks on an F-22 that make it really look the business.

[camtech]

Many years ago, too many to count, I attended Asian Aerospace, along with an RNZAF Friendship and assorted kiwi firms. This was on Changi.
Quite a step up from those days.

[camtech]

Many years ago, too many to count, I attended Asian Aerospace, along with an RNZAF Friendship and assorted kiwi firms. This was on Changi.
Quite a step up from those days.

[beagle]

Love that head on shot of the RSAF F16. Would love to go to something like RIAT etc but looking at those images, something closer like Singapore might be ok. mmm Bucket list added to.

[skyhawkdon]

Great report and photos Chris, many thanks for sharing them. Did the RNZAF have anything there? Given Singapore's support to the RNZAF's recent anniversary airshows in NZ it would be disappointing if we were a no show at theirs!

[flyjoe180]

Wonderful photos, thanks fo rposting them. I too love that tiger scheme on the Embraer