Keynote Address by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at the Opening Ceremony of the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) Integrated Complex

PS(DD),
DTC Principals,
Board Members,
CE DSTA,
DSTA Management and Staff,

It is a happy occasion. We are officially opening the DSTA Integrated Complex today. But this Complex is more than a physical building. This physical building embodies a journey that was started by our founding pioneers, principally Dr Goh Keng Swee. Dr Goh believed that Singapore, with its limited manpower and lack of strategic depth, needed technology to overcome these natural constraints, to have a credible defence which is not a given. It was both good vision and prodigious that Dr Goh and the pioneers conceived this idea 50 years ago. That we could make up for Singapore's lack of manpower, resources and strategic depth. We used technology to not only make up, but even surmount this challenge.

When they conceived it, to be candid, it was more an aspiration than an achievable goal. Nothing on our cards then gave any signs or promise of success. Whether you looked at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), we had a GDP per capita of about US$500 then, we were a third world country and the population was uneducated. Nothing foretold that we would be good at science, technology, language and modern societies. We were an impoverished nation without even basic necessities. Why did we believe that one day, 50 years ago, that we would be having advanced fighter aircraft, launch our own satellites, having Command and Control (C2) systems that were at the cutting edge among the world leaders? Only a small proportion had university degrees. The number of scientists and engineers for the whole country, when we started the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1965, could fit into this building, with rooms to spare!

Today, DSTA is a critical pillar of our defence ecosystem, a key partner without which the SAF would be hard put to accomplish its missions. It is more than being a smart buyer, looking at an aircraft, a land vehicle, or a ship. It is not only that we can purchase a platform that would suit our needs but once having acquired it, it is the ability to integrate systems on systems so that each system can talk to one another.

The DSTA Journey

At this 50th anniversary, objectively and with great satisfaction, we can say that the Defence Technology Community (DTC) indeed has come a long way. Even Dr Goh, I believe, would be deeply impressed with the achievements of the defence science community, which began in much more modest conditions in 1966 compared to what we have today. In 1966, it was designated the Test, Evaluation and Acceptance Section of the Logistics Division. Credit must go to the small and closely knit community of defence engineers then, who believed that they could succeed, who dared to dream big and work hard to achieve their goals. Some of these pioneers are with us today and we want to thank you for your dedication and commitment in those lean years. You have done a tremendous job. I will recite a litany of successes but with each success, may I remind you, that nothing was a given.

It took a decade to introduce our first missile capability into the Navy in 1974. Then we had a multi-layered air defence system in 1975 that would keep us safe from external threats; the F-5 Tiger followed, our first supersonic fighter in 1979. We had our first Airborne Early Warning and Control platform in the mid-1980s, and the FH-88 - the first Singapore-made 155mm towed gun in 1988, and many more following.

More importantly and beyond those individual projects, your greatest achievement for Singapore was that you build for Singapore our own defence science capabilities, which would prove invaluable in upgrading and building not only discrete components of the SAF orbat, but integrating them so that indeed the whole is larger than the sum of its parts. From upgrades of A4 Skyhawk aircrafts and the AMX-13 tanks, advanced platforms and C4ISR systems, you as the defence tech community members have played an integral role in transforming the SAF into a lean, networked and lethal fighting force. You have new technologies which allow us precision fires, advanced communications and information technology, as well as unmanned vehicles, to defeat potential adversaries.

This capability spells optimism for Singapore's future. Objectively, if we ask how Singapore will succeed in the next 50 years, to me, it is critical that we have this capability. Indeed, the defence science capability has spilled over and benefitted the rest of Singapore. During SARS, DSTA worked with ST Electronics to produce a basic prototype of an Infrared Fever Screening System, or thermal scanners. The main problem with SARS or any other biological pandemic was not the virus itself, but the fear and the paralysis of society that fear brought with it. The thermal scanners brought back confidence because you could scan buildings and say that the people in the building were safe where before we did not have the capability. DSTA and ST Electronics did it within 36 hours! DSTA also pioneered the construction of underground caverns and is now working with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to develop Singapore's underground master plan. Government has realised that it has to invest in S&T. I expect the DSTA community to play an important role as the Government embarks on the next phase - the rest of the Government, outside MINDEF and the security agencies, would realise that we need to invest more in S&T.

Commitment to Our People

Our security challenges, whether in the past, present or future will require technology to provide solutions beyond more men and machines. When I was in Ministry of Manpower - this was after SARS and unemployment had gone up to 6% - we were looking for jobs for mid-career entrants. There were good paying jobs, for example in the hotel industry. We looked at the jobs of chambermaids that did up the rooms, and they were paid S$2,000 and some S$3,000. We asked why elderly people did not want to do this. That is where it makes a difference. The problem is that all of us, when we go to hotels, we like nice beds and nice beds are heavy. But think about the person who changes the bed sheets. How do you lift it? You cannot lift it, productivity goes down. You need at least two people to lift it. So like most Singaporeans, we say that it can be solved with technology. Technology can slip in, and everything gets folded. This does not exist. I said, why don't you work with our Polytechnics and create one? All of us are trained to think that when there is a problem, technology can solve it, and I think that is a good starting point. Whether they are security threats from extremists, cyber warfare, biological pandemics, hybrid warfare, all of these in our security arena require our defence engineers and scientists to take a cross-disciplinary approach to problem-solving and innovation. If you look around, this building facilitates that. It breaks down the barriers between engineers, technologists, conceptors, implementers, innovators and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The Innovation Laboratory's flexible setup allows it to reconfigure so that you can achieve that outcome.

Ready for the Future

The SAF and Singapore will face its greatest challenge in 2030. For the SAF, it means a significant and permanent reduction in our manpower pool after 2030, by a third. We have to increasingly leverage robotics and unmanned systems for all its operations - from logistics to the battlefield. I am glad that I have you here, as DSTA scientists and engineers, to embrace this challenge as you have done in the past 50 years, and find solutions not only for defence, but for the rest of society. Our economy will have to transform; we cannot be based on more manpower, because that is not the luxury towards us. I believe that with your efforts, Singapore will remain well protected and safe. This building that we open today remains true to the vision of Singapore's pioneers and embodies that clear and constant mission for DSTA to help us find solution where there are none, and to continue to keep Singapore safe for a long time to come.

Congratulations and thank you.