Singapore Fokker 50 video: better late than never

I quite enjoyed this video of RSAF Fokker 50 operations over the Gulf of Aden last year. I found it interesting that despite the sensor pod under the fuselage they still have a photographer snapping away in the cabin and then loading the photos onto a laptop.  I would expect that the pod under the fuselage is much better suited to this purpose, and no doubt can snap photos or take video from much farther away and at night as well.

I also found it odd that it took them so long to upload this video. The aircraft returned to Singapore in July 2011, and it is not as if there is anything the video that is operationally sensitive. Somalia's pirates are well aware that those grey aircraft flying about over the Gulf of Aden are not carrying tourists on joyrides.

Anyway, I got in trouble with an engineer for writing that Singapore could possible replace the Fokker 50 with an upgraded type, such as P-3C or even P-8, or an 'equivalent' type such as the Ruag Do228NG. He wrote that replacing a Fokker 50 with a Do228NG would be like replacing an F-15 with T-6C. I would argue that miniaturisation means the Do228NG, itself a fairly large airframe, could carry a formidable suite of systems for the maritime patrol role.

That said, perhaps Singapore could go for two MPA types. A light MPA like the Do228NG for routine local duties, and something like the P-8 for ASW and long range patrols out in the South China Sea or at the northern end of the Straits of Malacca.