By WENDELL MINNICK
TAIPEI — As regional powers gather at the Singapore Airshow this week, two issues will be at the forefront: upgrading their F-16s and/or buying F-35s.
The biggest beneficiary in these fighter jet programs is Lockheed Martin, which has been selected by the US Air Force as the system integrator for the Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES) program that will upgrade the radar and avionics on 300 F-16s.
Singapore and Taiwan will be hitching their own F-16 upgrades to the CAPES program as well, depending largely on whether the US decides to continue funding CAPES, which is in doubt. However, Lockheed still benefits by being the only fifth-generation fighter maker on the market. Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and even Taiwan have plans to procure the F-35.
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