- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 24,972
- Points
- 113
Singapore Pushes Automated Defense Systems
Marhalim Abas
Money, it has. People are in shorter supply.
Singapore spends more on defense than the other countries in Southeast Asia, almost all of which are much larger. But the wealthy city-state’s declining birth rate is a growing problem.
The answer, increasingly seen in Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) equipment programs, is automation: drones, of course, but also airborne surveillance by aerostat, Airbus A330 MRTT tankers with reduced personnel requirements and ships with dramatically smaller crews.
Getting enough people will be an enduring issue, says Collin Koh Swee Lean, an analyst with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “There’s no marked improvement in the total fertility rate,” he says. When measured in 2016, it was just 1.2 children per woman. “The SAF will have to plan with this scenario in mind, hence it will not only have to continually renew its policies related to attracting and retaining manpower and talent but also keep investing in automation.”
Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in June 2017 the country would use automation to address the manpower shortage. A good example is the radar-equipped aerostat that has been deployed to provide continuous surveillance of air and sea as far as 200 km (125 mi.) away. The aerostat is operated by just eight people, all on the ground. To provide a similar continuous radar coverage with airplanes, the country would have needed one of its four Gulfstream G550 airborne early warning aircraft in the air. Each has a crew of eight, not counting support on the ground.
The six Airbus A330 MRTT tankers to be delivered to the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) this year have been upgraded for operation by three people, down from the four required for earlier versions. The initial plan was to accept the A330 MRTT in its off-the-shelf build standard, says the Singapore’s Defense Science & Technology Agency. But the agency noticed that, thanks to new avionics in the civil A330-200 and the advanced aerial refueling console for the MRTT, the fourth crewmember—a mission coordinator—could be left out. Airbus developed the change, which is now certified. “With Singapore’s manpower constraints, the certification reduces the overall crew requirement and lowers the long-term operating costs,” the agency says.
At Singapore’s request Airbus has cut the crew of the latest A330 to three from four. Credit: Airbus
Like the RSAF, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is using unmanned aircraft. It also has commissioned three of eight planned Independence-class “littoral mission vessels”—actually, corvettes—designed with high levels of automation to reduce crews. This includes an integrated command center that combines the ship’s bridge, combat information center and machinery control spaces. Each of the 1,200-metric-ton ships will be crewed by only 23 sailors compared with 30 on the predecessor Fearless-class patrol vessels, which are less than half as big.
The RSN also is conducting trials with ST Technologies Venus-16 unmanned surface vessels for sea-border patrol work and mine-hunting. It hopes to become the first navy to conduct mine-hunting entirely with unmanned craft. The RSN has used robots to patrol its main base since 2015, leading the way with the armed Protector USV.
Singapore allocated S$14.2 billion ($10.7 billion) for defense in 2017. The budget was 3.1–3.4% of GDP from 2010 to 2016, the latest year for which such ratios are available, according to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute. That means the budget has been growing about as fast as the economy. Koh expects it to continue to do so. GDP probably rose 3.3% in 2017 and should grow 3% this year, according to the country’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore,survey of economists.
Big new programs for the RSN and RSAF may not appear for a few years, since both services have costly equipment orders already in their pipelines, Koh says. These may include the replacement for the RSAF’s aging Fokker F-50 maritime patrollers. The Boeing P-8 Poseidon has been a candidate, but Singapore could be waiting for a cheaper alternative to become available.
The RSAF has long-term interest in acquiring Lockheed Martin F-35s but for now seems content with a combat aircraft fleet of 40 Boeing F-15SG Strike Eagles and 60 Lockheed Martin F-16s, the latter being upgraded to an advanced standard.
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance “is a priority, with indigenous efforts aimed at developing technologies that provide data analytics, information fusion and all that—all to provide a more coherent, networked . . . capability for the SAF, and for Singapore’s whole-of-government approach to national security involving other agencies,” adds Koh.
—With Bradley Perrett
Marhalim Abas
Money, it has. People are in shorter supply.
Singapore spends more on defense than the other countries in Southeast Asia, almost all of which are much larger. But the wealthy city-state’s declining birth rate is a growing problem.
The answer, increasingly seen in Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) equipment programs, is automation: drones, of course, but also airborne surveillance by aerostat, Airbus A330 MRTT tankers with reduced personnel requirements and ships with dramatically smaller crews.
- A strong defense budget will grow with GDP
- The armed services increasingly look for labor-saving systems
Getting enough people will be an enduring issue, says Collin Koh Swee Lean, an analyst with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “There’s no marked improvement in the total fertility rate,” he says. When measured in 2016, it was just 1.2 children per woman. “The SAF will have to plan with this scenario in mind, hence it will not only have to continually renew its policies related to attracting and retaining manpower and talent but also keep investing in automation.”
Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in June 2017 the country would use automation to address the manpower shortage. A good example is the radar-equipped aerostat that has been deployed to provide continuous surveillance of air and sea as far as 200 km (125 mi.) away. The aerostat is operated by just eight people, all on the ground. To provide a similar continuous radar coverage with airplanes, the country would have needed one of its four Gulfstream G550 airborne early warning aircraft in the air. Each has a crew of eight, not counting support on the ground.
The six Airbus A330 MRTT tankers to be delivered to the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) this year have been upgraded for operation by three people, down from the four required for earlier versions. The initial plan was to accept the A330 MRTT in its off-the-shelf build standard, says the Singapore’s Defense Science & Technology Agency. But the agency noticed that, thanks to new avionics in the civil A330-200 and the advanced aerial refueling console for the MRTT, the fourth crewmember—a mission coordinator—could be left out. Airbus developed the change, which is now certified. “With Singapore’s manpower constraints, the certification reduces the overall crew requirement and lowers the long-term operating costs,” the agency says.
At Singapore’s request Airbus has cut the crew of the latest A330 to three from four. Credit: Airbus
Like the RSAF, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is using unmanned aircraft. It also has commissioned three of eight planned Independence-class “littoral mission vessels”—actually, corvettes—designed with high levels of automation to reduce crews. This includes an integrated command center that combines the ship’s bridge, combat information center and machinery control spaces. Each of the 1,200-metric-ton ships will be crewed by only 23 sailors compared with 30 on the predecessor Fearless-class patrol vessels, which are less than half as big.
The RSN also is conducting trials with ST Technologies Venus-16 unmanned surface vessels for sea-border patrol work and mine-hunting. It hopes to become the first navy to conduct mine-hunting entirely with unmanned craft. The RSN has used robots to patrol its main base since 2015, leading the way with the armed Protector USV.
Singapore allocated S$14.2 billion ($10.7 billion) for defense in 2017. The budget was 3.1–3.4% of GDP from 2010 to 2016, the latest year for which such ratios are available, according to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute. That means the budget has been growing about as fast as the economy. Koh expects it to continue to do so. GDP probably rose 3.3% in 2017 and should grow 3% this year, according to the country’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore,survey of economists.
Big new programs for the RSN and RSAF may not appear for a few years, since both services have costly equipment orders already in their pipelines, Koh says. These may include the replacement for the RSAF’s aging Fokker F-50 maritime patrollers. The Boeing P-8 Poseidon has been a candidate, but Singapore could be waiting for a cheaper alternative to become available.
The RSAF has long-term interest in acquiring Lockheed Martin F-35s but for now seems content with a combat aircraft fleet of 40 Boeing F-15SG Strike Eagles and 60 Lockheed Martin F-16s, the latter being upgraded to an advanced standard.
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance “is a priority, with indigenous efforts aimed at developing technologies that provide data analytics, information fusion and all that—all to provide a more coherent, networked . . . capability for the SAF, and for Singapore’s whole-of-government approach to national security involving other agencies,” adds Koh.
—With Bradley Perrett
