Importance of Maritime Security to Singapore and Threats in the Maritime Domain
Singapore is a maritime nation. Our Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs) connect us to the world, and is the means by which a large percentage of our trade arrives and departs Singapore. A significant portion of our economy therefore depends on the sea. The Republic of Singapore Navy, together with our other maritime agencies, is responsible for the maritime security of Singapore, in particular to ensure that our SLOCs remain open.
Indeed, the nature of conflict, including in the maritime domain, has evolved over the last decade. Beyond military-to-military conflicts, we see non-military actors, conducting operations in non-traditional and non-military domains, utilising novel tactics and capabilities that may threaten Singapore’s interests. For the maritime domain, these could range from sea robberies to contestations over territorial boundaries and resources, to supply chain disruptions.
Being Ready to Respond to Wide Spectrum of Traditional and Non-Traditional Threats
Multi-role as a design philosophy. With the evolving nature of conflict, the list of scenarios that militaries need to prepare for has grown. The way that we will need to do this is to embrace ‘multi-role’ as a key design philosophy – the ships that we build and the capabilities that we raise must be able to deliver value across the peace to war spectrum. As you are well aware, shipbuilding is a multi-decade project. By having multi-role as a key design philosophy, we are deliberate about building ships with operational flexibility to be able to take on missions that have not been envisaged yet, such as dealing with maritime security challenges that Singapore might face in the future.
Strengthening Integration within the SAF and Across other Government Agencies. A key tenet to success for the RSN will also lie in its ability to bring together and operate alongside its partners. We must therefore continue to strengthen our integration with our sister services through cross-service exercises like Exercise Trident and with other national maritime agencies through cross-agency exercises like Exercise Highcrest. I believe that together, we are greater than the sum of our individual parts and we must continue to strengthen our linkages in order to reap the benefits of this synergy.
Building Defence Relations with Bilateral and Multilateral Partners
History of Exercises with Multiple Navies. The RSN has a long history of regular interactions with other navies in bilateral and multilateral exercises in order to enhance mutual understanding and build cooperation. For example, we exercise with the Royal Australian Navy under Exercise Trident and Exercise Singaroo. We regularly participate in the multinational Rim of the Pacific Exercise hosted by the United States Navy, and also engage them bilaterally in Exercise CARAT and Exercise Pacific Griffin. Exercise Eagle Indopura with the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) is the Singapore Armed Forces’ longest-running bilateral exercise with a foreign military. Last year, we also commemorated our 30th edition of Exercise Malapura with the Royal Malaysian Navy, the 40th edition of Exercise Pelican with the Royal Brunei Navy, and the 20th edition of Exercise Singsiam with the Royal Thai Navy. Just last week, we conducted the second edition of Exercise Maritime Cooperation with the People’s Liberation Army (Navy) The RSN’s Information Fusion Centre is currently conducting the Maritime Information-Sharing Exercise involving 43 maritime agencies from 29 countries. We will also be conducting the 30th anniversary of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise with the Indian Navy later this year. These exercises are practical, tangible manifestations of the importance of the close and long-standing defence relations between Singapore and its foreign partners in contributing to a safe and secure maritime environment.
Building Trust Through Dialogue – IMDEX Asia 2023 and International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC). As a responsible member of the international community, we must continue playing our part in upholding the rules-based regional maritime security architecture to ensure peace and stability in the region. I am glad that after a four-year hiatus, IMDEX Asia resumes full scale this year. In conjunction with IMDEX Asia, we will also be organising the 8th IMSC to build understanding and trust through dialogue. A robust maritime security architecture requires the collective effort of all maritime agencies. There will be a special panel for maritime law enforcement agencies, and I look forward to hearing from the speakers on how maritime enforcement agencies can work together to deal with various maritime threats.
Emphasis on Practical Cooperation. Beyond dialogue, we will also play our part to strengthen ASEAN’s unity through practical cooperation with partners from the region and beyond. This year, in our role as the ASEAN-India Coordinator, we are co-hosting the ASEAN India Maritime Exercise with the Indian Navy, and will participate in the upcoming ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise. These are good opportunities for ASEAN navies to undertake practical cooperation and build mutual understanding, and practice confidence-building measures which contribute to a peaceful and stable regional security architecture such as the Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES). Information sharing is also crucial in order to equip our partners with actionable information that can then cue operational responses on the ground. The IFC, with its International Liaison Officers (ILOs) physically based in Changi Naval Base, was established for that purpose and is today well-positioned to share information on maritime security incidents with other maritime agencies and OPCENs through the IFC’s Real-time Information-Sharing System (IRIS). In addition, given the transnational nature of maritime security threats, it is critical that countries that share maritime borders work together to address them collectively and in partnership with each other’s maritime agencies. For example, because the Singapore Strait borders three countries – Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, any effort to deal with maritime security issues along this important waterway must be undertaken by all three countries. To this end, Singapore is party to a number of bilateral and multilateral arrangements such as the Malacca Straits Patrol and the Coordinated Patrols Indonesia-Singapore.
Opportunities and Challenges for the RSN
As a small navy, the RSN needs to constantly transform itself and incorporate new technologies to allow it to achieve its missions more effectively and efficiently. We therefore keep a keen eye on various developments in the areas of artificial intelligence, data analytics and unmanned technology, just to name a few. For example, we have incorporated artificial intelligence to play an active role in the RSN’s day-to-day frontline operations to more efficiently identify potential intruders from land and sea via our surveillance systems. In the area of engineering and logistical support, we are in the midst of trialling an autonomous load transporter that can transport spares from the naval warehouses or workshops to our ships. Our Fleet Management System also leverages data analytics to help manage and support the maintenance regime of our ships and logistical supply chains. On board ships, we have also been experimenting with data analytics to help with predictive maintenance to help our engineers to maintain the operational readiness of our platforms. From enhancing our situational awareness at sea, to accelerating decision-making in operations and improving the operational readiness of our ships, the incorporation of artificial intelligence and data analytics will be a key force enabler for our Navy and it is thus important that we keep an open mind with regard to their adoption and implementation.
One challenge that confronts the RSN, and indeed Singapore as a whole, is the shrinking manpower resource. With this in mind, the RSN is cognisant that we cannot operate our ships with the same amount of manpower as some of our foreign counterparts. We were thus early adopters of automation on board our ships, allowing us to operate them with onethird to half the crew as compared to ships of similar size in other established navies. In building the Navy’s capabilities for the future, we have looked at how we can design work processes to be more efficient so as to allow us to do more, with less. In the next bound, the RSN will leverage unmanned technology to continue to expand our operational envelope without levying a heavy manpower cost. Soon, the Maritime Security Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) will operate alongside our manned vessels, such as the Littoral Mission Vessels, to patrol Singapore waters. The future Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV) will also operate as a ‘mothership’, capable of taking charge and coordinating the actions of multiple unmanned platforms at sea.
While unmanned technology potentially unshackles us from the constraints imposed by declining birth rates, and allows us to undertake riskier operations without putting our sailors in danger, it cannot entirely replace core human functions that involve leadership, command, and complex decision-making. Therefore, the fleet of the future will likely be one of manned-unmanned pairing, which will allow us to reap the efficiencies of both manned and unmanned operations through proper integration and synergy. In order for us to realise this, we must look beyond the hardware and technology. The RSN will develop the necessary skills and expertise to guide such manned-unmanned operations, and also train our people to operate and maximise the use of unmanned technology. We will also constantly learn and adopt the best practices from other militaries regarding the use of unmanned technology, while understanding their limitations in deployment.
Importance of Training Sailors Realistically and Safely
Realism is an important component of any training that we put our sailors through. Premised on the philosophy that we must ‘train the way we fight’, the RSN invests heavily in ensuring that our sailors receive comprehensive, robust training to hone both their professional competencies and domain expertise. Training overheads traditionally, however, can be taxing especially when we require ships to put out to sea to facilitate training serials for our junior sailors. Simulation technology has allowed us to shift a greater proportion of those trainings ashore, without compromising on realism and rigour. For example, the Littoral Mission Vessel (LMV) Simulation Centre and Submarine Training Centre allow the crew of the LMV and submarines to conduct a wide suite of realistic training, without needing to go out to sea for a dedicated training sortie. Simulators also provide our sailors with a safe environment to experiment and ‘fail’ so that they can learn from their mistakes while being subject to various challenging scenarios, without putting the ship and her crew at risk of real danger.
On RSN’s Current and Future Platforms
Replacements for Endurance-class Landing Ship Tanks (LST). We are currently examining carefully the requirements for the LST-replacement platform. The platform will be able to deploy unmanned systems, incorporate sense-making and automation to enable more efficient operations. To better support large-scale multinational operations, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, the platform will also be equipped with improved medical support capabilities and an advanced communications suite to enhance command and control over operations more effectively. We expect our LSTs to continue to be in service until its replacement is delivered and operationalised.
Fokker-50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. The RSN is working closely with the RSAF to review the requirements of the MPA-replacement platform to meet future needs. The Fokker-50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft had underwent a life extension program in 2017 for the fleet to continue its operational tasks.
Integration of Formidable-class Frigates with the SAF and its Mid-Life Upgrades (MLU). The frigates are integrated into the larger SAF warfighting systems, which were validated during local and overseas exercises, such as Exercise Pacific Griffin 2021. During the exercise, the RSN and RSAF conducted integrated missions in support of maritime operations to strengthen sea-air integration. Through the SAF’s Integrated Knowledge Command and Control Systems, the frigates are able to share its maritime picture with other ships and headquarters ashore, while tapping on information from other ships and headquarters ashore to enhance its situational awareness at sea. Regarding the mid-life upgrades for the frigates, the RSN is currently finalising the details of the update programme following detailed studies. A mid-life upgrade for similar sized platforms and capability upgrades would typically take 2-3 years per platform. Over the coming years, we will rotationally send our frigates for their MLU programme.
Invincible-class Submarines. The Invincible-class submarines will enhance the RSN’s capabilities to protect Singapore and secure access to our sea lines of communication, and will continue to provide the RSN with a strategic edge. The Invincible-class submarines have better mission capabilities such as a wider range of mission payloads and air independent propulsion systems based on fuel cell technology that allows the submarines to stay submerged about 50% longer, and modern combat systems and more capable sensors that improve situational awareness and accelerate decision-making. The four submarines are at different stages of the programme. We launched the second and third submarines in December 2022. The progress of the fourth submarine is going according to schedule. Crew training is ongoing, and we expect the lead submarine to return to Singapore later this year.
Multi-Role Combat Vessels (MRCV). The design of the MRCVs incorporates the ’mothership’ concept, where a manned vessel is able to operate multiple unmanned systems to expand its surveillance and influence over a large area. The MRCVs will support the operations of unmanned drones and vessels, which will be key force multipliers for the RSN’s operations. It will be configurable to be fitted with modular mission modules so that it can conduct a wide range of missions from peace to war. In addition, we will incorporate automation and data analytics into our combat and platform systems to enhance situational awareness, accelerate decision-making, and improve efficiencies in logistics and engineering support.
The ’mothership’ concept is a natural progression from the RSN’s unmanned journey since the early-2000s. We incorporated the lessons learnt from past shipbuilding projects, including the locally designed littoral mission vessels. We also leveraged technology, such as 3D modelling and detailed model testing, to test and evaluate the design. At the same time, our RSN operators and engineers work closely with the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) engineers during the design stage to ensure that operational, logistics and maintenance requirements are properly incorporated.
Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV). We are still in the midst of designing the vessels to replace our four Sentinel-class Maritime Security and Response Vessels. They will be purpose-built, and designed with manoeuvrability to operate in congested waters around Singapore, along with a suite of lethal and less-lethal capabilities to provide flexibility and calibrated response against a wide spectrum of maritime threats.
RSN’s Fiscal Discipline on Capability Development Projects. MINDEF/SAF takes a longterm view on defence spending and ensures that every dollar spent is done so in a prudent and cost-effective manner. Likewise, the RSN ensures that due diligence and fiscal discipline are exercised in all its modernisation programmes. This is especially critical since these programmes typically span across several years from conceptualisation to realisation to operationalisation. All projects undertaken by the RSN are thoroughly scrutinised and deliberated before they can secure the necessary funding to see them through.
Exploration of Futuristic Concepts – Premised on RSN’s Operational Requirements
In the foreseeable future, the RSN’s Order of Battle (ORBAT1 ) will undergo significant changes. Our Challenger and Archer-class submarines will be replaced by the Invincible-class Type 218SG submarines and our Victory-class Missile Corvettes will be replaced by the MultiRole Combat Vessels. Our Sentinel-class Maritime Security and Response Vessel will also be replaced by the Offshore Patrol Vessel. The RSN has shaped the design of our future assets around its anticipated operational requirements, with a view to finding new ways to achieve operational outcomes. Our ships of the future will be designed with flexibility and modularity in mind.
Conclusion – Vision for the RSN
The RSN has been and will continue to be the maritime force for our maritime nation.We will gradually operationalise our new platforms, both manned and unmanned, and build up our capabilities to ensure that we continue to maintain a professional and competent Navy that is able to defend Singapore’s interests. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen our integration with our sister services and Whole-of-Government partners to harness cross-domain potentials. Hardware aside, we will also focus on our people, to ensure that our sailors are ready to take on the challenges of the future as well. From training to HR management, we will leverage digitalisation, data analytics and AI to ensure that we remain an organisation of choice for our people, and one that will be able to provide for our sailors’ wellbeing and professional development.