SINGAPORE: The Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) has embarked on a concerted drive to beef up drone capabilities, against a backdrop of domestic manpower issues and the proliferation of unmanned systems as key battlefield assets around the world.
But analysts say the task of integrating the new technology into typically "manned" warfighting setups could prove challenging - and would require more training and exercises to build up understanding and familiarity across service branches.
Earlier in August, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing announced recruits in Basic Military Training would learn how to fly and counter drones. The first cohort of the new syllabus, comprising more than 3,000 servicemen, enlisted in July and will pass out in September.
This came on the back of a slew of drone and counter-drone developments in March - including an army office to scale up operations for unmanned aerial vehicles and an air force warfare and tactics centre.
On the defensive front, a new SAF counter-unmanned aerial systems development and operations group will be set up, along with neutralising capabilities such as sensors and jammers.
The Singapore navy, too, is making moves to deal with unmanned systems, such as by using cheaper, off-the-shelf drones.
In response to CNA's queries, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said the SAF continuously studies operational lessons from conflicts and assesses new technologies; and will also invest in capabilities to prepare soldiers to overcome evolving threats.
Drones, for one, enable troops to see further and put themselves out of harm's way.
A Singapore Armed Forces recruit using a drone at field camp on Pulau Tekong, on Aug 4, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)
Defence experts told CNA the drone push in Singapore as well as around the region was partly driven by their demonstrated use in dealing with a range of scenarios, including border crises and front-line battlefield operations.
This is a key reason for state and non-state actors to continue upgrading their UAV capabilities, and innovate and invest in research and development (R&D) programmes, said Ms Su Mon Thant, Asia-Pacific senior analyst at ACLED, which monitors violent conflicts and protests around the globe.
Ukraine's use of drones against its stronger and larger enemy has been well-documented. Most recently, in late August, Kyiv ramped up drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, disrupting processing and exports and creating gas shortages in some parts of the country.
How the Ukraine-Russia war was transformed by drones has been a lesson for Taiwan, according to Taipei-based analyst Aadil Brar in a commentary for the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) think-tank.
He wrote that unmanned systems have become central to Taiwan's asymmetric strategy against China, which claims the island as its own; and that drones offer a flexible and "survivable means" to counter the conventional might of the People's Liberation Army.
In Southeast Asia, the junta in Myanmar has intensified its ongoing pushback against resistance forces with the use of drones. And the latest Cambodia-Thailand clash also serves as a point of observation, said RSIS associate research fellow Thomas Lim.
Reports indicate that drones have been used along the border to surveil or bomb military targets.
Mr Lim noted that even as armed forces try to keep up with the swift pace of technologies being developed, they have to plan for what future battlespaces could look like.
"No military can ever claim to be ready for the battles of tomorrow," he said.
Singapore has the budget and the capacity to invest in R&D and training to upgrade drone capabilities. But it is also short on real-world practice, with no active conflict to utilise its UAVs, said ACLED's Ms Thant.
Here, drones have thus far mostly been used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes.
Another challenge - albeit one also faced by militaries all over - lies in deploying unmanned assets alongside manned ones across the SAF's services, including in joint operations.
"The integration of new unmanned systems into an atypical warfighting setup that has largely been 'fully-manned' isn't a straightforward process," said RSIS' Mr Lim.
A common understanding of the combat capabilities and limitations of drones would first need to be established.
He said this would be achieved through each service undertaking its own "scale-up", before coming together for joint inter-service training. These exercises would aim to ensure drone utilisation to their full potential in a variety of settings - whether humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations or warfighting missions.
MINDEF described the drone syllabus in Basic Military Training as intended to familiarise recruits with the fundamentals, and to lay the foundation for them to subsequently acquire other abilities in their operational units.
Recruits will undergo a self-directed e-learning module and a lecture, before learning to fly the drones both in camp and in the field.
The syllabus allocates about six hours of training time in total.
Each BMT company will have access to about 40 commercial off-the-shelf drones, which MINDEF said were "sufficient" to meet training needs.
Asked about the brands being used, MINDEF said the Singapore Army uses a wide range of commercially available drones.
Experts said it was a matter of practicality.
These affordable drones can generally serve basic military functions with minor modifications, and are often simpler to operate, said Mr Lim. Production is also more scalable - which he said was possibly the "most critical" factor for militaries requiring large amounts of the assets.
Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing and Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad looking at the drones displayed during their visit to the BMT Centre at Pulau Tekong on Aug 4, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)
Dr Bich Tran from the RSIS' military transformations programme framed the BMT training and the wider drone push as part of efforts in tech innovation, to address "significant long-term challenges".
These include Singapore's declining birth rates and ageing population which in turn affect the pool of National Service conscripts.
MINDEF noted however that drone training was not being prioritised over other skillsets.
The SAF constantly reviews its training curriculum to ensure it remains relevant, said the ministry. "Other existing fundamental soldiering skills remain important for recruits, and we still place emphasis on them, irrespective of drone training."
Mr Lim highlighted that managing training curricula is an "ever-present problem" for all militaries, especially conscript-based ones.
Still, "exposing all SAF soldiers to the operating fundamentals of drones signals an acceptance of such military technologies as a mainstay in this new character of war",
"Singapore's peace is a product of conscious effort to maintain the military's warfighting edge and readiness, something that cannot be taken for granted in increasingly polarising times," Mr Lim added.
"Drones have become an essential component of warfighting, and the (SAF's) move is a recognition of this new normal."
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But analysts say the task of integrating the new technology into typically "manned" warfighting setups could prove challenging - and would require more training and exercises to build up understanding and familiarity across service branches.
Earlier in August, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing announced recruits in Basic Military Training would learn how to fly and counter drones. The first cohort of the new syllabus, comprising more than 3,000 servicemen, enlisted in July and will pass out in September.
This came on the back of a slew of drone and counter-drone developments in March - including an army office to scale up operations for unmanned aerial vehicles and an air force warfare and tactics centre.
On the defensive front, a new SAF counter-unmanned aerial systems development and operations group will be set up, along with neutralising capabilities such as sensors and jammers.
The Singapore navy, too, is making moves to deal with unmanned systems, such as by using cheaper, off-the-shelf drones.
In response to CNA's queries, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said the SAF continuously studies operational lessons from conflicts and assesses new technologies; and will also invest in capabilities to prepare soldiers to overcome evolving threats.
Drones, for one, enable troops to see further and put themselves out of harm's way.
A Singapore Armed Forces recruit using a drone at field camp on Pulau Tekong, on Aug 4, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)
PREPARING FOR "BATTLES OF TOMORROW"
Defence experts told CNA the drone push in Singapore as well as around the region was partly driven by their demonstrated use in dealing with a range of scenarios, including border crises and front-line battlefield operations.
This is a key reason for state and non-state actors to continue upgrading their UAV capabilities, and innovate and invest in research and development (R&D) programmes, said Ms Su Mon Thant, Asia-Pacific senior analyst at ACLED, which monitors violent conflicts and protests around the globe.
Ukraine's use of drones against its stronger and larger enemy has been well-documented. Most recently, in late August, Kyiv ramped up drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, disrupting processing and exports and creating gas shortages in some parts of the country.
How the Ukraine-Russia war was transformed by drones has been a lesson for Taiwan, according to Taipei-based analyst Aadil Brar in a commentary for the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) think-tank.
He wrote that unmanned systems have become central to Taiwan's asymmetric strategy against China, which claims the island as its own; and that drones offer a flexible and "survivable means" to counter the conventional might of the People's Liberation Army.
In Southeast Asia, the junta in Myanmar has intensified its ongoing pushback against resistance forces with the use of drones. And the latest Cambodia-Thailand clash also serves as a point of observation, said RSIS associate research fellow Thomas Lim.
Reports indicate that drones have been used along the border to surveil or bomb military targets.
Mr Lim noted that even as armed forces try to keep up with the swift pace of technologies being developed, they have to plan for what future battlespaces could look like.
"No military can ever claim to be ready for the battles of tomorrow," he said.
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Singapore has the budget and the capacity to invest in R&D and training to upgrade drone capabilities. But it is also short on real-world practice, with no active conflict to utilise its UAVs, said ACLED's Ms Thant.
Here, drones have thus far mostly been used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes.
Another challenge - albeit one also faced by militaries all over - lies in deploying unmanned assets alongside manned ones across the SAF's services, including in joint operations.
"The integration of new unmanned systems into an atypical warfighting setup that has largely been 'fully-manned' isn't a straightforward process," said RSIS' Mr Lim.
A common understanding of the combat capabilities and limitations of drones would first need to be established.
He said this would be achieved through each service undertaking its own "scale-up", before coming together for joint inter-service training. These exercises would aim to ensure drone utilisation to their full potential in a variety of settings - whether humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations or warfighting missions.
"NEW NORMAL"
MINDEF described the drone syllabus in Basic Military Training as intended to familiarise recruits with the fundamentals, and to lay the foundation for them to subsequently acquire other abilities in their operational units.
Recruits will undergo a self-directed e-learning module and a lecture, before learning to fly the drones both in camp and in the field.
The syllabus allocates about six hours of training time in total.
Each BMT company will have access to about 40 commercial off-the-shelf drones, which MINDEF said were "sufficient" to meet training needs.
Asked about the brands being used, MINDEF said the Singapore Army uses a wide range of commercially available drones.
Experts said it was a matter of practicality.
These affordable drones can generally serve basic military functions with minor modifications, and are often simpler to operate, said Mr Lim. Production is also more scalable - which he said was possibly the "most critical" factor for militaries requiring large amounts of the assets.
Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing and Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad looking at the drones displayed during their visit to the BMT Centre at Pulau Tekong on Aug 4, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)
Dr Bich Tran from the RSIS' military transformations programme framed the BMT training and the wider drone push as part of efforts in tech innovation, to address "significant long-term challenges".
These include Singapore's declining birth rates and ageing population which in turn affect the pool of National Service conscripts.
MINDEF noted however that drone training was not being prioritised over other skillsets.
The SAF constantly reviews its training curriculum to ensure it remains relevant, said the ministry. "Other existing fundamental soldiering skills remain important for recruits, and we still place emphasis on them, irrespective of drone training."
Mr Lim highlighted that managing training curricula is an "ever-present problem" for all militaries, especially conscript-based ones.
Still, "exposing all SAF soldiers to the operating fundamentals of drones signals an acceptance of such military technologies as a mainstay in this new character of war",
"Singapore's peace is a product of conscious effort to maintain the military's warfighting edge and readiness, something that cannot be taken for granted in increasingly polarising times," Mr Lim added.
"Drones have become an essential component of warfighting, and the (SAF's) move is a recognition of this new normal."
Continue reading...