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| A US Navy P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft |
By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
OVER THE MALACCA STRAIT: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his host, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, made a stark and clear statement to China before the Shangri-La summit began, boarding America’s preeminent sub-hunting and surveillance plane, the P-8 Poseidon.
“How do you like this aircraft?” asked Carter as they boarded the P-8.
“I love this aircraft!” replied Lt. Torrey Plum.
Plum’s isn’t alone in her enthusiasm for the Boeing-built aircraft. It’s a sentiment shared at high levels of the US, Australian, British, and Indian militaries, all of which are fielding the surveillance plane.
The P-8 is one of the Navy’s newest aircraft; Lt. Plum’s is just two years old. That it’s being deployed first to the Pacific, before it goes to any other region overseas, is often cited by defense officials and admirals as tangible evidence that the much-questioned “rebalance to Asia” is real.
Strategists are particularly excited to have the P-8 flying out of Singapore, which agreed in September to host regular deployments. (There is not a permanent US base, but that’s increasingly the model for our not-technically-alliances in Asia). The long-range, cutting-edge maritime patrol plane operating out of one of the world’s great hubs of maritime traffic is a happy marriage of technology and geography — though not so happy for the Chinese.
Read the full story at Breaking Defense