Singapore The United States and Singapore announced an agreement in January for U.S. aircraft carriers, submarines and other warships to use a planned $35 million naval base here for port visits and maintenance beginning in 2000. U.S. Navy ships already use limited facilities in Singapore for port calls, but giant nuclear carriers are forced to anchor offshore and cannot dock at this strategically located city state between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca. Construction of the new dock began in early January, and it will be completed in 2000. -Reuters USS Nimitz USS Nimitz has been loaded with six AGM-154A Joint Stand-off Weapons, which have yet to achieve initial operational capability, for potential use with F/A-18 fighters. The aircraft carrier is deployed in the Persian Gulf. Halifax Frigate Maurice Tremblay sends: "I just returned from a three months contract on a Halifax-class frigate. First, there is no magazine for additional Sea Sparrow. You have 16 Sea Sparrows, and that's it. The version of the Harpoon is the IC. For my personal opinion and many other officers and sailors on the ship the signature should be Small/ Quiet. The dot on the screen for a city class is big as a small fishery boat. By the way I personally saw it in front of my console. So here's the modifications that I would like to see to the Harpoon 4 Data Annex: Halifax class: Harpoon IC instead of just Harpoon F&A(8)2 MK48 VLS w/8 RIM-7M//2 STIR (Instead of 6 RIM-7M per mount) Signature Small/Quiet All Halifax-class ships now have the SQS-510 (far stronger than the 505). This program started in 1995. All Halifax-class ships now have the Radar 1007 naviga-tion radar instead of the Mk340. Annapolis class: SQS-510 instead of SQS-505" [Thanks, Maurice - Ed] Germany Germany will equip all ships except support vessels with a third-generation FLIR designated WBA (Wärmebildanlage). It has a thermal imager and laser rangefinder integrated with a video tracker. Elevation is -40° to +70°, 360° azimuth. Preproduction models were tested on the frigates Bayern and Bremen and the minehunter Weiden. Emden has also received an initial system. It will be fitted initially to F122-class frigates. Sixty-six systems will be delivered by 2003. China China is buying twelve Ka-28 Helix A ASW helicopters for the new Sovremennyys, the Harbin [Luhu] class, and the Jiangwei class. Late word: The Canadian Defense Minister has announced that Canada will buy the four British Upholders, at a bargain-basement price of $750 million. Finally! BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #14 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com