Speech by Minister for Defence, Mr Chan Chun Sing, at The Defence Technology Prize Award Ceremony 2026 on 6 Nov 2026 at DSO National Laboratories

Ladies and Gentlemen, a very good afternoon to all of you.

Navigating a New Era of Warfare

As in every year, we gather to recognise the outstanding achievements in defence technology. Yet, beyond the systems we have developed, the capabilities we have fielded, and the awards we confer, we are really here to honour something more fundamental. We are here to honour the commitment of generations of Singaporeans who have understood that for a small nation, security can never be taken for granted. And that technological excellence is not a luxury, but a strategic necessity.

This year, that responsibility takes on an even greater significance because now we find ourselves at an inflection point in warfare. History reminds us that warfare usually evolves progressively for long periods of time and then suddenly, a lot of things change overnight. For long periods, military competition appears relatively stable. Technologies mature. Concepts evolve. The balance between offence and defence adjust, but gradually. Then a threshold is crossed. Assumptions that endured for decades are suddenly overturned. The existing equilibrium is disrupted, often before a new one has emerged. Today, we find ourselves at this inflection point.

Once upon a time, the machine gun transformed battlefields and rendered longstanding tactics obsolete. Then, the tank fundamentally changed the problem of manoeuvre and defence. Then, air power, precision-guided munitions and networked warfare each altered the conduct of war in profound ways. In every such period, what proved decisive was not simply possession of a new technology. It was the ability to understand what that technology made possible, and to adapt before others did.

So today, we are once again approaching such a moment – advances in computing power, Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, drones and robotics. Individually, each is significant. Together, they have the potential to reshape the character of warfare in ways we are only beginning to appreciate. The equilibrium that has guided much of our military thinking may no longer hold. The next equilibrium has yet to be established. And we should not assume that a stable equilibrium will emerge quickly, if at all. The pace of technological change may simply outstrip our ability to settle into familiar patterns.

The question therefore is not whether change is coming. The question is how we respond and how we anticipate.

Shaping Our Own Future

My first point is that we must seek to write the next chapter, rather than wait for it to be written by others, for us. Throughout history, Singapore has succeeded not because we enjoyed favourable circumstances, but because we refused to be defined by our circumstances. We built a world-class economy despite having no natural resources. We built a credible defence force despite our finite manpower and population size. We built resilience despite our vulnerabilities. At every critical juncture, we chose agency over passivity. The same principle applies today.

For Singapore, emerging technologies present opportunities that are particularly significant. They offer new ways to overcome constraints that have shaped our strategic calculations for decades. Our lack of geographical depth. Our limited mass. Our compressed reaction times. Our manpower challenges. These realities do not disappear. But technology can help us mitigate them in ways that previous generations could scarcely have imagined.

The future, however, will not simply arrive at our doorstep. We must have the courage to shape it. To experiment. To innovate. And to pursue possibilities that others may not yet see. Because for a small nation, the greatest risk is not to move too early. It is to move too late.

Building Strong Foundations for Long-Term Success

My second point today is that such ambitions can only be realised if they rest upon strong foundations. Periods of technological disruption often create pressure to chase the newest trend and the latest breakthrough. But enduring capability is not built that way. Enduring capability is built through sustained commitment over decades.

And there is an important lesson here. In finance, long-term returns depend on patient capital. In national defence, long-term advantage depends on patient capability-building. Deep expertise cannot be bought off the shelf. It cannot be improvised only during a crisis. It must be cultivated steadily, over many years, and often long before its value becomes obvious.

The achievements we celebrate today did not emerge overnight. They are built upon generations of work by engineers, scientists, operators, and commanders who invested in capabilities whose full value would only be realised years later. Consider the capabilities developed by our Advanced Weapon Systems team. What we see today is the result of decades of accumulated expertise in guidance systems, integration, testing and operational understanding. The technologies may evolve, the platforms may change, but the underlying know-how endures.

It is precisely this foundation that enables us to seize new opportunities when they arise. As we pursue AI, autonomy and robotics, we must therefore remember that the most strategic investments are often those whose returns are not immediately visible. Nations that think only in quarters will struggle to prevail in contests measured in decades.

Technology and Operations Must Evolve Together

My third point today, is that technology and operations must evolve together. One cannot wait for the other. Technology without operational imagination delivers only a fraction of its potential. Operations without technological innovation eventually reach their limits. The most effective militaries are those that allow both to evolve in parallel, each challenging and strengthening the other.

Operators identify new possibilities, new challenges. Technologists create new solutions. New technologies create new concepts. New concepts generate new requirements. The cycle repeats itself. What matters is the speed of that cycle.

In the years ahead, competitive advantage may increasingly depend less on any single technological breakthrough. Instead, it may depend more on our ability to learn faster than others, to innovate faster than others, and most critically, to proliferate successful innovations throughout the SAF faster than others. The challenge is not merely invention. The challenge is adoption – the translation of a promising idea into an operational advantage at scale. Learning. Innovation. Proliferation. Then learning again. This continuous cycle will be one of the defining characteristics of successful defence organisations in the future.

Conclusion

When future historians look back on this period, they may well conclude that it was one of the most consequential technological transitions of our generation. The technologies themselves will undoubtedly change. Some ideas that seem revolutionary today will fade. Others that appear modest today may prove transformative in time to come.

One thing is certain. Singapore's success will continue to depend on the same qualities that have sustained us since independence. The courage to confront uncertainty, the discipline to build for the long term, the imagination to turn constraints into opportunities, and above all, the determination to shape our own future rather than have it shaped for us.

The recipients of this year's Defence Technology Prize exemplify these qualities. Your work strengthens not only the SAF's capabilities, but Singapore's confidence that whatever challenges lie ahead, we will be prepared to meet them. Not because we can predict the future perfectly, but because we are determined to prepare for it better than anyone else.

On this note, what cheered me the most today, when all the prize award winners presented their projects to me, was not because of how great their solutions were and how good they may be today. What impressed me most was that for each and every one who walked on stage to receive the award, they were no longer just celebrating what they have achieved today or in the last few months or the last one year. What impressed me most was that they are constantly thinking about the next challenge. That is why, to every award winner that had presented to me earlier, I will always ask you what is the next thing that you are thinking about? What is the next challenge that you want to overcome? Because it is this indomitable spirit, this curiosity, that will bring us to even better solutions in the future. It is one thing to celebrate what we have achieved. It is another thing to remember that we must keep asking ourselves, “What is the next bigger challenge that we want to overcome?” 

Many of you have worked with me for many years in the past few decades. All these capabilities did not come easy. We built these capabilities over many decades, and we will continue to build up the teams to take our mission of safeguarding Singapore forward. We are not just satisfied with what we have. We are constantly looking into the future for what else we need to do in order to secure our future ahead of time. 

On that note, I want to thank all of you in the Defence Technology Community for all the hard work that you have done behind the scenes, not just to seek the solutions for today, but also to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow; and most importantly, to groom another generation that will be even better than ours to take Singapore forward. Thank you very much. 

More Resources

Defence Engineers and Scientists Honoured for Excellence and Innovation in Defence Technology

Fact Sheet for Defence Tech Prize 2026 Award Ceremony