What does a Southeast Asian country do when it is small but has a big air force? In Singapore's case, it disperses its planes and, indeed, some of its ground forces as well, to many different places around the world for training.
Singapore has by far the largest and most potent air force in Southeast Asia. It is part of the government's longstanding 'poison shrimp' defence strategy, which is intended to warn any larger country that trying to swallow the island state would be painful.
Singapore carries a big stick, but chooses not to flaunt it. One reason the government keeps a substantial part of its military force abroad is to avoid alarming or provoking its neighbours, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet in a crisis, the aircraft could be ferried home within days.
As a prosperous island state in the middle of an increasingly turbulent region, Singapore has long maintained a strong defence force. But keeping it well-trained and combat-ready is a constant challenge.
With a total land area of just 660 sq km, Singapore has correspondingly small airspace, making it impossible to give air force pilots any extensive training or flying experience within national boundaries. The pilots must turn into a narrow transit corridor that takes them to one of only two relatively extensive training areas available.
One, over the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is the result of an agreement with the Indonesian government. The other, over international airspace in the South China Sea, is jointly administered with Malaysia. But in 1998 - in one of a series of spats between the two countries - Malaysia alleged that low-flying Singapore military planes were spying and banned them from its airspace.