Speech by Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Zaqy Mohamad at the Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition Awards Ceremony on 11 April 2026

Mr Cheong Chee Hoo, Chief Executive Officer of DSO National Laboratories,

Mr Peter Ho, Chairman, Science Centre Board,

Ms Tham Mun See, Chief Executive, Science Centre Board

Partners,

Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and pleasure to be at the Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition Awards Ceremony this afternoon.

The energy in this room is no doubt a product of seeing months of hard work – I was speaking to some of the participants, they trained three months to fly the drone - late nights, and countless failed prototypes. Finally, these few days, the last couple of weeks, their inventions and their creations bore fruit.

Congratulations once again to all our participants. Let us give them a round of applause.

SAFMC IS AN IMPORTANT TALENT PIPELINE

At the core, let me start first with why competitions like SAFMC are important.

Look around you. Drones are no longer part of an emerging technology. They are already part of our everyday lives.

They inspect and maintain high-rise buildings so engineers do not have to. They deliver life-saving supplies like blood and medicine to remote communities. The Maritime and Port Authority, or MPA, has started using drones in their operations to monitor our busy ports and support emergency responses like oil spills.

If we look at the conflicts unfolding all around the world — from Ukraine to the Middle East — it becomes even clearer: our drones are redefining warfare through speed, scale, and affordability.

Singapore has never had the luxury of abundant natural resources or a large population. What we have always relied upon is our ability to think better, faster, and be effective. Being able to innovate more than others is what has kept us going over the many, many decades that we have been around. This is especially true in defence and national security, where the stakes could not be higher.

Keeping pace with these changes is not optional for us — it is existential. We must be able to deploy these new capabilities in ways that are meaningful to our specific strategic needs.

A clear example is swarm technology. A single human operator can direct hundreds of drones to perform complex operations. Some must see them in National Day Parades, or some of the heartland celebrations near your homes. But in practical terms, you can also see many of these operations being done, whether they are for recce type scenarios, search-and-rescue, through dynamic algorithms that allow drones to coordinate in real-time. For a small country like Singapore, that is a significant force multiplier.

But force multipliers require talent. The pipeline of scientists, engineers, and creative problem-solvers who will power Singapore's technology for the next generation starts here, in rooms like these.

I was just thinking to myself, as I saw the video earlier, you have kids throwing paper planes and trying to understand aerodynamics. I was sharing with Chee Hoo, at some point you will see them doing 3D printing, experimenting with different types of shapes, sizes, and algorithms to try to understand and design better planes and drones.

INTEREST IN STEM IS GROWING AMONG SINGAPORE'S YOUTH

Ms Tham Mun See earlier shared in her opening remarks that we have seen a record number of participants, nearly 2,500 participants at SAFMC 2026. Thank you very much for your support once again. The numbers speak for themselves. Our youth believe in the possibilities that technology can unlock – and so do I.

The pace of technology today makes this an extraordinary time to be a young innovator. I certainly wish that these were around when I was still young and studying in school. The possibilities are endless.

Consider artificial intelligence. When GPT-3 was released in 2020, it felt like science fiction. Barely 5 years on, it is already obsolete by several generations. Many of you have likely used AI to help with schoolwork, generate images, or tried your hand at “vibe coding”. These are clearly glimpses of a technology that will reshape every field, from healthcare, to education, to national security.

The SAFMC plays an important role in exposing our young innovators to the excitement and challenging working world of emerging technologies and meaningful innovation. Even as drone technology evolves, algorithms evolve, DSO and Science Centre Singapore have been deliberate about keeping SAFMC relevant.

This year, two new categories have been introduced: Smart Drone (Beginner) and Smart Drone (Intermediate). These categories are designed to give younger students - I am told as young as primary school- a structured pathway into the more advanced categories, to give them an entry point to engage with AI and drone autonomy algorithms.

Existing categories have also been updated. The technology focus of the “Man-Machine Teaming” category is now on building drones equipped with customised mechanisms that can pick-up and deliver payloads. Essentially, we want participants to be able to build capable drones – not just drones that can race -  but drones that can fly, fly well, carry payloads and do very practical things in real life. Therefore, we can find meaningful applications for them, and that is what you want at the end of the day.

INNOVATION IN THE AGE OF GENAI HAS CHANGED

Success as an innovator in this age will require more than technical knowledge.

In a world where AI tools can generate code, synthesise research, and prototype solutions at speed, the edge increasingly belongs to those who know how to use the tools well. For inventors and innovators, really it is about understanding real life use cases and scenarios.

The best innovators are not only smart. They are shrewd. They see the gaps where existing approaches fall short, and they have the agility and drive to fill those gaps before anyone else. That quality cannot be automated. Those are human qualities.

SAFMC reflects this well. From individual paper planes to autonomous multi-member drone swarms, the competition demands not just technical execution but creative problem-solving. That is precisely the kind of challenge that prepares you for the real world.

SAFMC IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE REAL-WORLD TECHNOLOGY

In fact, what you have practised here is closer to real engineering than what you might think.

The capabilities on display at SAFMC today — coordinated swarm behaviour, autonomous navigation and precision landing, are important skills. Real life experiences are being captured through many of the scenarios that we have today.  The line between student experiment and real-world application is quite thin.

For those of you who want to work at the frontier of technology in service of a mission larger than themselves, I encourage you to consider a track in defence research and development at DSO. The young kids there – I am looking at you guys. Minimally, I can guarantee you, when you enter Basic Military Training, you will also be playing with drones. That is something we recently introduced. Every National Serviceman will be very conversant in drones, but I am quite sure you guys are well ahead.

Few organisations offer the breadth – from underwater systems to cyberspace, from autonomous robotics to advanced sensing. Innovation is uncertain. But the work will be exciting, and it will be meaningful.

Mr Tan Wei Xuan, Tech Chair for the High-speed Drone Category at SAFMC 2026, was himself a participant in the 2023 and 2024 editions of SAFMC. He joined DSO first as an intern in the Robotics Autonomy Core Programme in 2023, then returned as a full-time Algorithm Engineer when he graduated from the Singapore Institute of Technology in 2024. Today, he works on algorithms for autonomous drone swarms, the very SAFMC category his team participated, and not just participated, but they won.

Singapore is investing heavily in our technological future. We have committed more than $37 billion over the next five years to ensure sustained national investment in science and technology. Recently, we established the National Space Office, a signal that Singapore intends to be a serious player in the most consequential technological domains of our time.Beyond just land and skies, we are aiming to conquer space too, at some point.

CONCLUSION

To our participants: what you have built today is not just a machine. It is a proof of your capacity to take an idea and make it real. That capacity will eventually be one of the most valuable resources Singapore has.

To the teachers, lecturers, and parents in the room: We are grateful. We are grateful for your support, contributions, and I hope that continues.

And to the organisers at DSO and Science Centre Singapore: thank you for continuing to grow and evolve SAFMC into a competition that is both technically challenging and deeply meaningful. I am quite sure the kids all enjoy the experience.

My heartiest congratulations to all the award winners today. Let your dreams take flight — and let Singapore soar with you.

Thank you very much and have a wonderful afternoon.