Rising Tensions Fuel Indo-Pacific Arms Sales.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

SINGAPORE--With tensions rising in the Indo-Pacific and China increasingly intimidating its neighbors, nations in the region are seeking capabilities that will set them up for success in potential future conflicts.

Although efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic have slowed arms deals, the relatively low turnout at the Singapore Airshow in February didn't stop attendees from laying the groundwork for enhanced military readiness.

"This is really the target market in the world right now," said Daniel Darling, senior analyst for Australia and Pacific countries at market research firm Forecast International.

The region is a hotbed for gray zone warfare--military operations below the threshold of full-scale conventional warfare, Darling said.

"In particular, around Singapore, you have the South China Sea and the transshipment channels that bring a lot of pressure to resource-dependent nations," he said.

In the Defense Department's annual Chinese Military Power report, which was released in November, Beijing's anti-access and area denial capabilities are strongest within the First Island Chain --which includes the area near Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines--but its leaders have ambitions to extend its reach even farther.

The People's Republic of China "is beginning to field significant capabilities capable of conducting operations out to the Second Island Chain and seeks to strengthen its capabilities to reach farther into the Pacific Ocean and throughout the globe," according to the report. The Second Island Chain encompasses the islands of Guam and Micronesia.

While the COVID-19 pandemic hurt defense budgets across the region, nations feel pressure to build up at least a minimal deterrent force against Chinese aggression despite the high costs, Darling said.

The pandemic "definitely inhibited ... defense procurement spending growth but nonetheless, one thing to keep in mind is every country in some way is hedging around China," he said.

If countries in the region are going to be ready to ramp up military operations to counter China, aligning their capabilities with the United States could be useful, industry executives at the Singapore Airshow said.

The stealthy fifth-generation F-35 joint strike fighter is a good example, according to Lockheed Martin. Operating the fighter jet opens up opportunities for new partnerships and alliances between international customers and the United States, said Steven Over, director of F-35 business...