Speech by Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the Official Opening of the DSO Complex

Distinguished Guests,
PS(D),
PS(DD),
Defence Technology Community Principals,
Board Members,
CEO DSO,
DSO Management and Staff,
Former DSO leaders

Today is a very good occasion, (the) official opening of (the) DSO Complex and as the CEO says, it marks a significant milestone. Not that buildings can accomplish what we want, but I think buildings reflect change in focus and change in the way we do things. It is a significant milestone not only for DSO but for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and indeed for our national security. Let me congratulate and thank the many cohorts of leaders and staff, which over the many decades, within the DSO have worked tirelessly and boldly. Your collective efforts have brought us here together today to this new Complex, which I believe will play a key role in driving innovative concepts and experimental laboratories that will provide the SAF indigenous and special capabilities to meet the wide spectrum of security challenges not only now, but as your CEO says, in the future. 

Earlier this year during the Committee of Supply, Members of Parliament were in full agreement with MINDEF/SAF's vision and plans for the Next Gen SAF. They and Singaporeans from all walks of life recognise acutely the limited manpower that must be harnessed for all the needs of our society, including defence. Now I think many of you may be familiar with what Dr Goh said, and I'll quote;

"We have to supplement SAF's manpower with new technology, as manpower constraints will always be there. Our dependency should be more on technology than manpower. And we must develop indigenously that technological edge."

I think especially for scientists and engineers, you will be very familiar with this quote. In the 1970s, Singapore's fertility rate was above replacement levels. In actual fact, for ten years between 1966 and 1976, KK maternity hospital held the Guinness Book of Records for having the most babies born in a hospital. KK had approximately 40,000 babies in that hospital alone. I doubt if our pioneer generation like Dr Goh or anyone else, could have foreseen declining birth trends today. My point is this, if technology was important then when we had fertility rates above replacement level, how much more so now and in our future, when our manpower supply falls. 

We owe therefore to our pioneers a great debt, because Dr Goh and his team started this idea and this journey towards technological proficiency and excellence, not when we needed it most. He started the first organisation, Defence Technology Research & Development, early in 1972. Even though DSO's beginnings were modest and humble, and I think it has now grown both in depth and breadth over the past 4 decades and justifiably stands with other advanced countries as having state of the art defence capabilities.

Today, DSO has over 1,500 engineers and scientists who have developed a spectrum of technological capabilities to meet our defence and security needs. DSO's capabilities and global standing is reflected in the extensive international partnerships and collaborations. Many agencies want to collaborate with us. It was not always true. Twenty years ago, I think if we were to approach others, they will not be so sure to do so. Today, I think it is fair to say that we have to turn down offers because we are limited in manpower. One example, SONDRA, a collaboration between France and Singapore that was started in 2004, and has led to breakthroughs in areas such as airborne passive radars and signal processing capabilities in electronic countermeasures.

Contributions to National Defence

But the most important point and achievement is this, DSO's capabilities did not just stay in your minds or in your laboratories, they were translated and harnessed into key initiatives that helped build the 3G SAF today and the Next Gen SAF. One key example is the Skyblade Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developed by DSO which allowed for more effective command and control. This UAV provided real time situational awareness of the battlefield to our soldiers. If I have a small UAV for an infantry platoon, it gives me a wider view of what is going to happen – obviously I have superior awareness. In today's operational missions, DSO is thinking one step ahead. Because the SAF will operate in very confined spaces, DSO is now developing the next generation UAV, called the V35, and this UAV will be able to take-off and land vertically, so you can use it in densely forested areas or dense urban cites. This is a good example of the Ops-Tech tight coupling that has resulted in the transfer of ideas from the laboratory to SAF soldiers.

In some areas, you have to think ahead. You have to decide what the future will be like. The DSO mandate does require it to invest in and develop future technologies. That is the reason why DSO was already undertaking research to protect computer systems in the 1970s. DSO's work focused on information security -- the design, analysis and implementation of crypto algorithms to protect sensitive communications systems. That work, over many decades, has paid off today as DSO now has a valuable group of cybersecurity experts who are needed to support MINDEF/SAF's Cyber Command, which we announced this year, the new Defence Cyber Organisation which can monitor, detect and neutralise cyber threats. 

As you have done before, DSO must now help us better prepare for challenges ahead. You started your efforts in AI and robotics since the 1990s, and you have seen fruition in some of those pieces of work in our unmanned platforms for land, sea and air, and more pervasively, sophisticated combat systems were built for our platforms. These systems give us greater computing abilities to help us make better and faster decisions for our commanders and soldiers to perform their tasks. 

In Parliament this year, I gave the example of the DSO software used by the Singapore Maritime Crisis Centre. Now, the Singapore Maritime Crisis Centre has the task of looking at all the ships in our harbours and waters. We have about 1500 vessels everyday but this software which DSO developed utilises AI, which generates unique signatures for each vessel in our waters, which then, using these signatures, collates information specific to each signature from multiple sources, including social media. This software detected a possible ISIS supporter on board a tanker that was in our waters in 2015. The information was passed on to our authorities and that person was barred from disembarking in Singapore. Truly a needle in a haystack but we were able to pick it up.

Another example is the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) developed also by DSO. The UGV is able to navigate autonomously in complex terrains, whether it is the forest or coastlines. It avoids obstacles and dangers. They tell me it is a prototype but there are possibilities and in honest truth, most advanced militaries are working on this, even those with sufficient manpower. Sometimes in risky terrain, you want to send in unmanned platforms, and if it is successful and scaled up, the vision of the Next Gen SAF, will be a hybrid of manned and unmanned platforms. Imagine, one soldier can move with his complement of autonomous UAVs, UGVs, sensors, shooters, and it is a one-man unit that can accomplish many functions. The SAF will need that.

Positioning for the Future

With our increasing dependence on technology, the new DSO Complex has been designed to encourage those ideas, collaboration and spur innovations to meet the SAF's future requirements.

One example is the DSO new Robotics Lab. It is a unique facility, a one-stop facility for prototyping, integration, simulation and testing of robotic systems. I think the way it is build, (it will) facilitate interactions among multi and cross-disciplinary teams. I hope that the new lab will accelerate the delivery of these UGVs and more sophisticated UAVs as part and parcel of the SAF's Next Gen Orbat. 

You also have a new "Playground", a facility to help scientists and engineers break boundaries and push new frontiers. So the idea is, different Subject Matter Experts come together, cross-fertilise ideas, prototype them (and) test them. You have AI tools, advanced prototyping machines -- a conducive environment that allows you to come up with better ideas. Your challenge in this building and what you do here is just as important as what the SAF does out there. The SAF trains with its capabilities today and what you do today will give the SAF its capabilities tomorrow. Our threat environment will not change for the foreseeable future. In fact, it will become more complex and will require more new ideas. What you do in this new building will determine whether we have the ability to meet this threat.

Closing

More than 40 years ago, our pioneers had the wisdom and vision to invest in defence technology as a critical enabler of the SAF. Since then, successive cohorts of DSO staff have put in great effort and effected significant contributions. DSO can be proud of these achievements that have made Singapore safer through a strong SAF.

I believe the new DSO Complex will further enable your work in shaping and building the Next Gen SAF, so that our children and theirs can better defend Singapore, our home. I hereby declare the Complex officially open. 

Thank you.