March 4, 2025
SINGAPORE – Drawing lessons from recent overseas conflicts, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will invest further in unmanned capabilities, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on March 3.
This entails setting up two new centres to drive the development and integration of unmanned vehicles within the air force and the army; a new group to build up the SAF’s counter-drone capabilities; and new commands to defend Singapore’s core digital infrastructure.
During the debate on his ministry’s budget, Dr Ng said drones will play an increasing role in modern warfare. For instance, a study by the Kyiv School of Economics showed that Ukraine is capable of producing four million drones annually – a hundredfold increase from before its war with Russia.
The asymmetry of costs between drone-based attacks and conventional countermeasures was also vividly exemplified when Houthi fighters fired drones at US warships off the coast of Yemen, said Dr Ng.
He noted that it would cost the aggressor $15 million to fire 100 drones, but defence against them would cost nearly $250 million, which is clearly unsustainable.
Finding a cost-effective solution to the problem of a mass small drone attack is currently the focus of intense efforts everywhere, he added. “I don’t want to give the wrong impression that it’s so easy and that there are comprehensive solutions to deal with all unmanned aerial systems (UAS).”
To build up the SAF’s counter-UAS capabilities – which include sensors, jammers and weapon solutions to detect and neutralise smaller drones – an SAF Counter-UAS Development and Operations group will be established. Working with other government agencies, it will be responsible for guarding Singapore against UAS threats.
In the air force, a UAS Warfare and Tactics Centre has been set up to develop UAS warfare and integration with other defence forces, working with industries and tech agencies. The army will establish a similar centre, called the Drone Accelerator for Rapid Equipping, to scale up operations of unmanned platforms for its units.
Dr Ng said the SAF has reorganised and equipped itself over the past decade to incorporate emerging technologies and capabilities. This included the formation of the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) in 2022, a culmination of efforts to better deal with future threats in the digital sphere.
Almost three years on, the DIS is ready to establish two new commands to spur digitalisation and stay ahead of hostile digital threats, he added.
One is the SAF C4 and Digitalisation Command, which will consolidate the armed forces’ software and hardware capabilities under a single command, and accelerate and integrate digitalisation efforts across the military.
The other is the Defence Cyber Command, which will consolidate the SAF’s cyber-security operations and capabilities. It will partner other government agencies and the industry to strengthen the national cyber defence against attacks that threaten the Republic’s digital backbone.
Commands under all SAF services that are responsible for unmanned platforms will also need to be reorganised, he added.
“Militaries must not only be able to integrate that new technology into their force structure and operations, but counter and defend against these threats,” said Dr Ng.
