Speech by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, at DSTA-DSO Scholarship Awards Ceremony 2016

Distinguished Guests,
PS(DD),
CE DSTA and CEO DSO,
Board Members,
School Principals,
Proud Parents,

Those of you who are going to receive scholarships today,

Introduction

It is always a good year when we have young bright minds to start off well in their careers. A few days ago we had a similar occasion. We handed out scholarships to those who were joining the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) or the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), and the most pleasing aspect is how proud parents are - I have children of my own so I can imagine your pride, and rightfully so because it speaks of an exciting journey ahead for your children. So I am very happy to be with you.

Mr Ng Chee Khern, the chairman of the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DS

TA) and DSO National Laboratories (DSO), talked about how important science and technology is, but let me give you one statistic. MINDEF and the SAF employ almost as many engineers and scientists as the rest of the Government combined. Just think about that. We are just one agency - MINDEF and the SAF, with DSTA and DSO. We employ 5,000 engineers and scientists. The rest of the Government combined employs 5,400 engineers and scientists. That statistic alone speaks volumes about how much the SAF, as do modern militaries today, leverages technology. It is a fact that the revolution in military capabilities would not have been possible and indeed is dependent on science and engineering capabilities.You watch all these movies about eyes in the skies and how governments can spy on you whatever you are doing, some of this is of course highly unlikely, but also a lot of this is truth.

Precision targeting, sensing… That is the reason why scientists and engineers are vital to the SAF, just as good commanders are, and this is the reason why we are here today, when we hand out every year DSTA and DSO scholarships. And this year, there are 88 scholarship recipients. I want to make special mention and thank your teachers and your principals who recommended you to us. They are our unpaid talent recruitment agents on the ground. But they are worth their weight in gold because they spot you, and they say, "Ah, this student of mine, good for MINDEF, good for DSTA, good for DSO," and of course they know from the track record that those that they have recommended to us before have done well in their careers. They do this because they too understand that for Singapore, a small country with limited resources, our security is paramount and they are doing their bit to recommend their very best to us.And because, as Mr Ng said, we have invested in science and technology for many years, I am confident that you will find your careers in DSTA or DSO fulfilling and amazing. I am selling koyok, but this is good koyok. Why am I confident? Because you are joining a community, which in my assessment, is progressive with good professional and organisational values.

In DSTA and DSO, I have observed that innovation and passion are traits that are encouraged, not feared. Members are not afraid and are encouraged indeed to look for "out of the box" solutions, not only for the SAF, but beyond.Let me give you two examples. Many of you will remember Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), right? There was great fear because of the infectious rate. Those who were infected had a fairly high mortality rate, and people were afraid so occupancy in hotels went down and people did not dare to go to work. We needed a tool that could tell the temperature of people, or people who had fever, and a tool that could do it fast because you cannot individually put a thermometer to either your forehead, or the armpit, or your mouth, or thousands of people entering for example, Raffles City. So at that time, the Ministry of Health turned to DSTA and said, "Can you help?" And today, whenever you come back to Changi Airport, or you go to another airport, there is this thermal screening device. It did not exist in large-scale before SARS, and DSTA was the first to introduce it for Singapore. And that was the reason why confidence came back and we got the economy going again.

Now if you think about it, fever and DSTA, actually DSTA could have said bochup - not my business. But, it is in the culture, you do it for national interest. We have the technology, we lean forward and we will help. Let me give you another example. Some of you may have enjoyed, (on-site) personally or watched on television, the National Day Parade at the Marina Bay Floating Platform. How did that come about? It came about because MINDEF and the SAF knew that the national stadium would be shut down, because we were rebuilding the national stadium, so we had to find an alternate site. Now you can do it at the Padang, but the Padang is a bit small. So we threw this idea to the SAF and DSTA to say, "Can you find an alternate site? We want it to be cheap, built fast, and good." They came up with this proposal because you need a lot of land, right? Where can you get land that you do not rob from others? On the reservoir, Marina Bay. So they put this floating platform - this is a steel platform - on Marina Bay. Now, some of you might remember that Marina Bay was previously open to the seas before the Marina Barrage was built. So you cannot simply just build a platform because it was subjected to tides. But they solved that problem with what we call "dolphin rings". The stage was like boats anchored with rings that floated up and down with the tide. Even now it does because the Marina Barrage, even though it is closed, they let in water, sometimes in and out, and the tide level changes.

Just two examples, there are many more. It shows me that this is an organisation that you have joined that sometimes when asked, will go the extra mile, and even when not asked, is thinking, "How can I help?" To me, that is a good organisation. Defence Science Scholarship and we will do more to attract top science and engineering talents into MINDEF and the SAF. Mr Ng mentioned the Defence Science Scholarship, which will enhance our existing scholarships that we give out now to raise the level so that the best and brightest of every cohort will want to compete for this scholarship. And when they join DSTA and DSO, we will groom them to lead the defence science programme for the whole of Singapore.

Fast Changing Technology Landscape

Why are we emphasising so much on science and engineering? Because it has been shown that this is the reason why we can transform the SAF. The SAF today is very different from some of you who did National Service, including my time as well. That time you know, for those of you who are going to do NS, you do your drills. You shoot and you pretend that you hit the other side. Today, we have laser simulations. You can get shot and you are actually (virtually) dead. And that is again technology. This year alone, we launched the Army’s Battlefield Internet which now provides the bandwidth and connectivity and exploits what we have, what we call the Software Defined Radio which allows us to pipe information of imagery and data to each other or the commanders for the Army. Many of you know that cyber-attacks against militaries are prevalent. Earlier this year alone, South Korea highlighted to the United Nations that North Korea had used GPS jammers which not only could affect their military aircraft, but worse still, could affect their civilian aircraft and vessels. Just imagine, commercial planes flying, you get jammed, you do not know where you are, you get a collision, or you get a problem. So even in peacetime, there is troubled peace. We need a strong core of defence engineers and scientists to understand the cutting edge technologies, and how these technologies can be used against us, or as a tool for us.

DTC - Relentlessly Innovating

I am happy to report that our defence scientists and engineers have achieved international recognition for their efforts and capabilities, and again I give you two examples.

The first is our Littoral Mission Vessel (LMV). It is a new vessel for the Navy and it was featured recently in Jane’s International Defence Review as a cover story in July. And they reported that the LMV allows us to carry out a wide range of missions. But to develop this vessel, which was homemade, DSTA engineers had to conduct extensive modelling because there were new concepts in terms of command and control. They built a mock-up vessel to make sure that this vessel is sea-worthy and functions well. But what is the result? The result is that what would normally take a crew size of over 30, they reduced it by a third. LMVs can be run by 23 people. Huge capabilities you will see as we roll out more, and this is a ship that is almost 50 per cent larger. And you know with our manpower constraints, we need this capability with greater effectiveness and efficiency for the Navy.

Another example - the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, AUV. It is a threat for our waterways even in peacetime because terrorists can put mines into the Singapore Straits. It has been shown before, you go and look up Google, the explosions they cause, but just imagine that they put mines into the Singapore Straits, in front of our harbour. It would cripple the economy, right? I just put mines there and ships will just stop or bypass Singapore. We have Mine Counter-Measure Vessels right now, but each vessel requires 30 operators per ship. They basically scan the sub-surface and the surface underneath to make sure that there are no mines if there is a threat. But the AUV has advanced sensors, can detect the underwater mines, and can be operated by four operators instead of 30, and continually, because the operators are not in the water when they are operating these platforms. A similar AUV was recently used by the Navy and they located the fuselage of AirAsia QZ8501. This was the AirAsia flight that plunged into the sea. It was this AUV that detected the fuselage, which others did not.

Taking Innovations to a National Level

DSTA and DSO scientists are assisting other Government efforts, whether it is to strengthen homeland security, or to build a Command and Control Centre for checkpoints in Woodlands and the Causeway which puts together all the information because it will help us to be more efficient.

Leaning Forward - New DSTA Entity

And we will continue to lend our efforts to the Whole-of-Government. DSTA is setting up a new National Engineering Programme Centre by the end of this year to complement our Smart Nation Programme Office and the Ministry of Transport. I am confident that when we lean forward to help others, we will do well.

Closing

Why am I telling you all this? Because you are now joining us. I am telling you all this and your parents that this is an excellent time for you to join the community. (There are) many challenges, many opportunities. You join us, go and get your degree, develop yourselves, but when you come back, expect to work hard. Expect that there will be many challenges and problems, whether it is SMRT trains, Woodlands Checkpoint, terrorist challenges, or problems in the sky and the sea. There will be many opportunities for you, and for those of you who excel, you have created for yourself great value because your engineering capabilities will be valued not only by DSTA and DSO, but by all other organisations. In fact, at a recent national competition, which was organised by The Institution of Engineers, they selected Singapore’s top engineering feats, and out of 50 awards, DSTA clinched six. This is an exciting organisation that you have chosen. I am confident that you have good careers. I wish you successful and rewarding careers and look forward to your contributions. Thank you very much."