South China Sea row: US deploys spy plane in Singapore

Picture for representation only. Photo: AP

Singapore: In a series of US military actions in response to China`s increasingly assertive claims over territory in the South China Sea, the United States has of late deployed a P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore for the first time.

The US says it will also base a military reconnaissance plane at the Paya Lebar air base here. 

US P-8s already operate from Japan and the Philippines, and surveillance flights have taken off from Malaysia. 

The spy plane, which was deployed on Monday, is expected to be there till December14. Besides the P-8 deployment, the US says it will also operate a military plane - either a P-8 Poseidon or a P-3 Orion - from Singapore for the foreseeable future, rotating planes on a quarterly basis.

The US-Singapore agreement, announced after a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, between US Defence Secretary Ash Carter and Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, also covers co-operation on counter-terrorism, fighting piracy and disaster relief.