Singapore pursues advanced technology.

To overcome limitations on the size of its armed forces, the Asian city-state of Singapore is exploiting cutting-edge technology by combining home-grown research and international collaboration.

While its high-stakes fighter replacement competition has been making headlines in the defense world, Singapore also has been quietly at work reshaping its armed forces to take advantage of advancements in technology.

In recent years, the threats to Singapore's security have grown more complex, according to a ministry of defense official. The Singapore armed forces have to contend with rising terrorism in the region and increased piracy, the official said.

The island-nation--with an ethnic Chinese majority--sits warily between its much larger neighbors with Muslim majorities Indonesia and Malaysia. Fearing that unrest in those two countries would spill over, die Singapore armed forces have put in place round-the-clock air, land and sea defenses to ensure the country's security.

As a result, Singapore has invested steadily over the years to build up its defenses. Up to six percent of its gross domestic product goes into defense. That amounts to roughly $4.8 billion each year, by far the largest defense spending in Southeast Asia, according to the Center for Defense Information.

Singapore is gearing up for two major replacement programs. The banner competition this year is the fighter replacement program, which has Western European and U.S. aerospace giants buzzing with expectation--would it be the Typhoon Eurofighter, the French Rafale or the U.S. F-15T? Singapore is expected to buy as many as 20 fighters at a program price tag of around $1 billion.

"The decision will be based on a detailed framework that looks at all aspects pertinent to our requirements, including operational performance, logistics supportability, total life cycle costs mid growth potential," said the official.

The other impending replacement is that of the Navy's missile gunboats, built a couple decades ago by Singapore Technologies Marine.

The missile gunboats were state-of-the-art naval strike-craft when acquired in the mid-1970s. As new technology became available, these boats underwent a number of upgrading programs in the 1980s and 1990s to increase their capability and sophistication.

The ministry also is looking to acquire naval helicopters to complement the new "Formidable" class frigates. Helicopters under evaluation include the Eurocopter AS532SC Cougar, the NH-90 and Sikorsky's S-70B Seahawk.

In the meantime, Singapore dedicates a significant chunk of its defense money to research and development. Five percent of the defense budget goes into research and development, according to the ministry.

The defense ministry, in recent months, set up a future systems directorate to take the lead in exploring how technology can be harnessed to develop innovative concepts.

"The ministry of defense considers dais effort so critical that we have set aside one percent of die defense budget for experimentation, over and above the four to five percent we set aside each year for research and development," said minister Rear Adm. Teo Chee Heart.

A newly created center for military experimentation already is conducting experiments in a virtual environment, he said in a speech during the 2004 budget debate. "The [military] also started conducting experiments outside the laboratory, during exercises, to test out new concepts under real-life conditions," he said. Some of die experiments evolved around command and control concepts, and future land systems.

With more than 600 engineers and scientists, the defense science organization is Singapore's largest research and development body. Meanwhile, the Defense Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), created almost four years ago, was established principally to strengthen technology acquisition and management.

It collaborates extensively with domestic and foreign industry on systems engineering and integration, upgrades, engineering support for weapon systems, modeling and simulation, and staying informed on relevant technology.

While the country works with overseas partners through joint collaborative projects and interactions, the ministry also recognizes there is a crucial need to develop in-country capabilities to meet specific needs, a defense official told National Defense in an e-mail interview. "Our principle has always been to buy whatever and whenever we can off-the-shall, but there will always be a need to invest in strategically critical technologies" for Singapore to stay ahead, according to the official.

Nevertheless, "there is a limit to what we can do by ourselves," said the official. Therefore, the country has "built up a global network of linkages--both formal and informal--with technologically advanced countries," such as France, Sweden and the United States. Singapore also has a good working relationship with Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Israel, which it tries to keep under wraps.

Both agencies have relied extensively on foreign expertise in their research and development work and have a growing number of collaborative projects with its foreign counterparts.

Collaboration usually occurs at a government-to-government level, said the official. In cases of company-to-company collaboration, the developed technologies must pass security reviews, according to die ministry.

While investments in research and development are critical, for the near and medium term, the Singapore military has placed priority on renewing some of its older platforms and modernizing its force structure, according to the ministry.

"This will enable the military to continue to respond effectively to key requirements, such as the need for sufficient and modern air-defense, and to ensure that the sea lines of communication remain open and secure," said the official.

For future requirements, the ministry has been developing new capability areas, such as advanced networking technologies and unmanned systems, according to the ministry.

"Advanced networking will enable better integration of our forces to achieve significant force multiplication effects," the official said.

Unmanned aerial vehicles fall into that arena. "UAVs can provide enhanced surveillance capabilities to enable the military to build a significantly higher level of situational awareness of the battlefield. Defense technology will play a critical role in developing these capabilities," the official said.

Singapore's military has been operating a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles for some time. The Searcher capability provides die army with greater battle space awareness, said the official, but "future UAVs are likely to perform more demanding roles beyond battlefield surveillance."

The air force purchased the Israeli-made Searcher UAV back in 1998 to replace the earlier Scout system. The Searcher can carry out operations up to 100 kilometers away from its point of control and has an endurance of up to 14 hours.

"The military is keenly monitoring developments in this area to determine how best UAVs will be able to contribute towards enhancing the armed force's overall defense capability," the official added. "We are likely to engage in experimental work with various classes of UAVs to gain deeper insights into their unique operational capabilities."

Singapore places heavy emphasis on airborne surveillance for its air and maritime defense operations. Singapore also is attempting to arm unmanned systems. Its indigenous "Lalee" program, intended for high-altitude strategic surveillance and intelligence gathering could potentially accommodate a weapon, according to experts.

Lalee, short for low-altitude, long enduring endurance at first may appear to have a confusing moniker. Even though the UAV has the term low-altitude in its name, it is designed to fly at 60,000 feet--the low is in comparison to satellites. The drone is drummed up to be the size of a Boeing 737 airliner. Lalee is being developed in collaboration with the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company.

Singapore also has looked into a number of smaller UAVs, including the Tailsitter, which is supposed to be smaller than a golf bag, mid the palm-sized Sparrow. Singapore's ST Engineering (STEngg) has been spearheading those efforts.

StEngg is a conglomerate that consists of four core Singapore Technologies Group companies--ST Aerospace, ST Shipbuilding & Engineering, ST Electronics and Engineering, and ST Kinetics, all of which are government-linked.

StEngg also has developed a Fantail UAV suitable for urban reconnaissance and airfield defense. The aircraft has an autonomous fright-control system, terrain avoidance capability and a nearly silent engine.

Meanwhile, the National University of Singapore has been investigating what researchers call an unconventional control mechanism for a small rotary-wing UAV.

According to Northrop Grumman's Rick Ludwig, Singapore expressed interest in the Firescout, a vertical take off and landing UAV, currently tinder contract with both the U.S. Navy and Army.

"The [Republic of Singapore Navy] is not a big navy by any standards, but it has built up a balanced set of capabilities that will allow it to perform its missions," the official said. We are ... mindful of the need to continually update our war fighting concepts mid keep relevant our platforms and systems through upgrade programs or new procurements."

The navy, even though it recognizes the importance of advanced weapon platforms, now is focused on gathering, processing, sharing and exploiting information critical to any operation, said the official.

"The navy has identified the need to push the capability envelope in this area as part of the overall integrated knowledge-based command and control framework," said the official. The navy's fighting assets, including the new Formidable class frigates and future naval helicopters, will be designed to fit in that framework, the official said.

The RSS Formidable is in Fact the lead ship of a class of six new multi-mission Frigates that was floated our at DCN Lorient, in France, in January. Formidable is now being fully fitted our at DCN, before starting sea trials towards the end of this year, and is due to arrive in Singapore in early 2005 and enter service in 2007, according to the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology.

A total of five follow-on frigate--RSS Intrepid, RSS Steadfast, RSS Tenacious, RSS Stalwart and RSS Supreme--will be built to the same design by Singapore Technologies Marine.

Under a technology transfer agreement, all six ships are due to be operational by 2009. The new class of frigates are significantly larger than the Victory class missile corvettes, which at 62 meters are the largest in Singapore's inventory, according to the Institute.

The new frigates are multi-mission platforms, with anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare capability, augmented by a 10-ton cargo helicopter, according to the institute. With a length of 110 meters, the new Singaporean frigates are also stealthy platforms, being shaped to reduce their radar cross section somewhat in the manner of the French Navy's Lafayette-class frigates, according to the Institute.

For its part, the army is developing a so-called full spectrum force also integrated by the same command and control network as the navy, to deal with a wide range of threats and uncertainties, said the ministry official. In order to maintain its operational edge, the army is on the lookout for technological solutions to enhance its capabilities, the official added.

Given Singapore's limited in-country resources, the army collaborates with both local and overseas research and development agencies on a wide spread of technology, covering precision weapons, networking and platform technology.

"We also leverage on our counterparts' experience and experimentation to further refine our doctrine and concepts," said the official. "Our investments have allowed our forces to be lighter with better mobility, while enjoying better situational awareness, protection, and firepower."

In collaboration with the defense industry, DSTA developed the acclaimed SAR21 rifle and the FH2000 artillery gun, according to the ministry.

DSTA also worked on the development of the 155-millimeter modular charge system (MCS), a propellant charge system for the artillery. With the MCS, the Singapore artillery halved the need for different types of propellant charges, eliminated wastage and improved ammunition preparation time. This solution has benefited the armed forces in terms of logistics' efficiency, according to DSTA documents.

Several months ago, the army fired the Primus, a self-propelled howitzer for the first time in an exercise in New Zealand. Equipped with a 155mm, 39-caliber ordnance, Primus is capable of delivering all NATO compliant ammunition at a maximum range of 30 kilometers. Primus uses the modular charge system.

The howitzer was developed jointly by DSTA and Singapore Technology Kinetics, also part of ST Engg.

When it comes to training the military forces, Singapore increasingly has been developing capabilities and training to deal with possible terrorist threats, ranging from aviation and maritime to cyber and chemical-biological-radiological-explosive. The country also is training to conduct enhanced security operations at key national installations, such as Changi International Airport, said the ministry official.

To enhance the island's security, the ministry increasingly works and trains with the other national agencies to integrate all available national resources to handle threats.

"It is not enough to develop our own capabilities and responses," said the official. Working closely with other neighboring armed forces is paramount to counter the threat of terrorism in the region, the official said.

The military also participates in regional and multilateral efforts to enhance security. "Our contributions reflect Singapore's support for the UN's efforts to maintain international peace and stability," said the official.

Singapore's most extensive peacekeeping deployment to dare was to East Timor, where, between 1999 and 2003, it contributed medical teams, liaison teams, headquarters staff, strategic lift support with landing ship tanks and C-130s, combat peacekeepers and a helicopter detachment.

One of the air force's C-130 aircraft and crew are in the Gulf to provide airlift support as part of the multinational effort to help in the reconstruction of Iraq. One of the navy's ships, the RSS Endurance, was also deployed to the Northern Arabian Gulf between for two months between November and December 2003, said the official.

As cooperation with other countries' troops becomes more prevalent, Singapore participates in a slew of exercises to enhance interoperability and communications with other forces. One such exercise is the yearly Cobra Gold that involves the U.S. Pacific Command and the Royal Thai armed forces.