In a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Monday, the US defense secretary, Ash Carter, and Singapore defense minister, Ng Eng Hen, welcomed the inaugural deployment of the aircraft in Singapore from 7 to 14 December.
A US defense official said further deployments in Singapore could be expected. The move comes at a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea over China’s assertive pursuit of territorial claims there.
The US deployment is likely to anger China, which is at odds with Washington over the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire energy-rich sea, through which more than $5tn of maritime trade passes each year.
The United States already operates P8s from Japan and the Philippines, and has also conducted surveillance flights from Singapore’s neighbor, Malaysia.
The statement said the P8 deployment in Singapore would “promote greater interoperability with regional militaries through participation in bilateral and multilateral exercises, while providing timely support for regional HADR and maritime security efforts.“
HADR is an acronym for Humanitarian and Disaster Relief operations.
The United States and Singapore have longstanding defense ties and the announcement of the P8 deployment was part of an enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement signed by Carter and Ng, which also covers cooperation in fighting transnational terrorism and piracy.
Washington has criticized China’s building of artificial islands in the South China Sea’s disputed Spratly archipelago, and has conducted sea and air patrols near them recently.
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