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SAF transforming itself into 3G fighting force
By Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia


SINGAPORE : The Singapore Armed Forces is undergoing a major transformation, and the new buzzword is to create a 3G fighting forces.

This means linking every soldier, fighter jet, tank and warship.

Exchanging messages, pictures and even video clips is now an everyday affair for most people.

But for soldiers in the battlefield, such real-time information can mean the difference between catching the enemy by surprise and running into an ambush.

Major David Chua, Force Planning and Strategy at G5-Army, said: "At the last minute before I moved out my tanks, my CO called me and said I had to switch plans with another PC. I rendezvoused with him and parked our tanks side by side and exchanged maps. I could not decipher what he wrote on his plans! He had to explain where his arrows were going and why he considered this to be the best plan."

But in a 3-G armed forces, such messy exchanges will be a thing of the past.

Brigadier-General Jimmy Khoo, Future Systems Architect at MINDEF, said: "What exactly is Third Generation SAF? It is early days yet to give a definitive answer and I believe that those who think they have all the answers will be wrong. There are just too many exciting possibilities that are still emerging.

"We won't depend on large numbers of platforms and people to be superior. Our edge lies in using unprecedented information to know the situation."

Colonel David Koh, Head of Joint Communications and Info Systems, said: "It is about delivering operational capability to the fighting forces. Of course we will leverage on technology, but technology by itself has limited value. What brings out the value is the marriage of technology and our operational requirements."

One scenario is soldiers in the future will carry devices that resemble PDAs.

If they cross paths with enemy tanks, real-time battlefield data about time and location - complete with pictures - can be beamed directly to the entire SAF network.

At the command centre, the information can be collated and analysed.

An updated battle plan can be beamed to all armed forces units - on land, at sea, and in the air.

So eventhough soldiers are only be armed with a rifle, they have the backing of the entire armed forces at their disposal.

But this means accepting change and leaving behind the old ways - something that will be difficult.

Captain Ang Chee Wee, Assistant Director of Future Systems Directorate, said: "Some functions and structures have existed for decades, and painstaking effort has been put in over the years to build up the identity, cohesion, esprit de corps within exsisting units and structures."

Colonel Koh added: "Because we are a NS army, our soldiers come in from all strata of society, and because of the strong education system in Singapore, we have highly educated soldiers who can leverage on the new technology and the possibilties technology make available."

MINDEF is so serious about 3G that it is setting aside 1 percent of the defence budget, about $80 million, on experimentation alone.

This is over and above the 5 percent for research and development. - CNA

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