With a stated interest of acquiring the next-generation of combat aircraft for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) by 2030, the Southeast Asian island state of Singapore is widely expected by analysts and defence watchers to be an eventual customer for Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The densely populated island is only 719.1 km~2 in size, with limited manpower resources for defence and no strategic depth to manoeuvre in the advent of conflict. Cognisant of the growing spectrum of operations that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) must undertake in an increasingly uncertain security environment vis-a-vis its own resource constraints, the country embarked on a third-generation (3G) SAF transformation in 2004 under which it is moulding its three services into an advanced, networked force. Underpinning this effort is the integrated knowledge-based command and control (IKC2) concept, where networked forces are augmented with decision support systems that enable commanders and personnel to exploit information more quickly and effectively.
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