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https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...eep-pace-with-accelerating-tech-cycles-sm-lee
SINGAPORE – New entrants are disrupting the traditional defence industry model not by outspending competitors but by outpacing them, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In this context, the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) has to innovate and deliver systems at a pace that keeps up with accelerating technology cycles, he said in a speech at an event at Shangri-La Singapore marking the agency’s 25th anniversary on Sept 19.
Once obscure newcomers in the defence sector like Anduril and Palantir from the United States and Helsing from Germany have “vaulted into prominence”, SM Lee noted.
They have become highly sought-after companies as militaries begin to realise the value of fast-moving, innovation-driven players, SM Lee told an audience of about 450, including Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing, his predecessor Dr Ng Eng Hen, DSTA staff past and present, industry leaders and senior government officials.
SM Lee said: “They prioritise software-driven platforms, deploy quick-and-dirty solutions rapidly, and then roll out improvements and upgrades one after the other, instead of gunning for a perfect product from the outset.”
Some of the most successful innovations do not even come from tech companies but from low-cost, informal backyard operations, or from rapid improvisation by troops on the ground.
The ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East show how quickly technology and tactics are changing – sometimes in weeks and days, instead of months and years, SM Lee noted.
Both Russia and Ukraine depend on a network of informal backyard operations and small commercial companies to accelerate development cycles and evolve faster than the other side, and these unconventional producers are doing so much more cheaply than traditional defence tech companies, he said.
As a result, what is happening on the front lines today is vastly different from how the war was fought in 2022, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, he said.
Singapore must expect the same thing to happen if it were to enter a conflict, he said. “This is the new reality of defence innovation.”
This means DSTA cannot “just double down” on its traditional strengths: focusing on the high end, spending time to gather requirements and thoroughly evaluating all options, then negotiating for the best prices and delivering systems that hopefully work perfectly from the start.
The agency must now pay equal – if not more – attention to how fast it can bring new systems and capabilities online, adapt them iteratively, and meet operational timelines that work for the Singapore Armed Forces, SM Lee said.
Doing so will not be easy, he noted, and will involve several fundamental shifts.
The agency must develop new procurement models and selectively accept more risks – investing in more experimentation, as well as agile and continuous development – to speed things up, SM Lee added.
The process will be messier and less controlled, but this approach will better fit the new paradigm and operating context, he said.
“We must also contemplate even more radical changes, to push the envelope still further.”
This may require organisational changes, he said, citing how the US created an elite innovation unit within the Pentagon known as Unit X.
Large organisations with traditional strengths find it inherently difficult to move away from what worked for them in the past, and Singapore is not exempt from these tendencies, SM Lee said.
DSTA was created in 2000 out of eight different government defence-tech organisations and given the mandate to specialise in technology procurement, deployment and integration for the SAF.
Lauding the work that the agency has done for each of the SAF’s four services, SM Lee gave the example of how it enhanced the F-15SGs – Singapore’s variant of the US-made fighter jet – with advanced communications and other systems.
It has also developed strong command, control and communications capabilities in-house and made these available to the rest of the Government, he said.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, DSTA delivered tools and systems to support the teams covering contact-tracing, patient care and testing operations, among others, he noted.
It is now working on new capability development models and focusing more on drones, autonomy, counter-drones and AI, SM Lee said.
It has also changed the way it works and expanded its partnerships, including with new innovative companies such as Anduril, Shield AI and Mistral to latch on to their fast development cycles and access new technological approaches, he added.
The agency has used CapVista, a private company, to hunt for start-ups and invest in them. Recently, it set up the Horizon Tech Office, which sits within DSTA, to pair promising start-ups and new innovative companies with its own programmes and potential users.
Moving forward, DSTA and the SAF must also set up and maintain a “healthy tension”, SM Lee said.
Soldiers must not only understand their mission needs but also what tech can accomplish for them – and know what they must demand from DSTA.
“They should not ask for the sky, and end up specifying gold-plated but impractical or exorbitant operational requirements. Nor should they get swept along by the latest fads.”
They must be ready to change tactics in response to changing tech and not stick dogmatically to existing practices, SM Lee said.
DSTA, on its part, cannot see itself just as a purchaser and deliverer of whatever the SAF wants, SM Lee said.
The agency has accumulated deep expertise and will sometimes know better than the SAF what works and what is potentially game-changing, and what is “just hype”, he added.
“It must form an independent view on whether the SAF’s demands and requirements make sense... It must be prepared to push back,” SM Lee said.
Operators and technologists must work ever more closely together, and “spar” ever more intensely with one another to prepare for future battles, he added.
DSTA must also figure out how to keep the bulk of Singapore’s fighting force – national servicemen – abreast of rapidly changing technology and weapons, SM Lee said.
The SAF has grappled with this problem for decades, but accelerating technology cycles have made this problem even more acute, he noted.
Singapore will lose out significantly if new tech and equipment are changing and being deployed every few weeks and months, and yet it takes a year or even several years for them to reach the bulk of its fighting force, SM Lee said.
“Should the button be pressed, our men will be going up with tech they know is already several generations old, with operating systems which belong on their handphones five years ago, and which must affect their operational readiness, confidence and morale.”
Singapore will need to figure out how to deploy and scale new technologies in the SAF quickly but also sensibly, he said.
SM Lee noted, however, that human initiative and ingenuity can ultimately trump even the best technology.
He raised the example of Hamas’ attack on the technologically and militarily superior Israel.
The Oct 7, 2023, attack was beyond doubt a heinous act of terrorism, but also a spectacularly successful example of strategic surprise that produced devastating results, which so far only humans are capable of conceiving and carrying out, he said.
SM Lee said that as Singapore builds up its technological capabilities, it must also constantly ask if Singaporeans are a people who will stand up and fight, and have the “iron will and resilience” to prevail whatever the odds.
DSTA must continue to attract and retain top talent to strengthen its ranks, and do its utmost to nurture a pipeline of top-quality people to deliver on its mission, he said.
“Never forget that battles are ultimately fought and won by people, not just by technology.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...eep-pace-with-accelerating-tech-cycles-sm-lee
