SINGAPORE – With the character of battle having advanced during the last decade, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) will should be prepared to answer a variety of conventional and non-traditional threats, stated Chief of Navy Sean Wat Jianwen.

“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,” Rear-Admiral Wat, 39, stated in a written interview on May 2.

In the maritime area, these threats can vary from sea robberies and contestations over territorial boundaries and sources to produce chain disruptions, he added. 

One problem particularly hits nearer to residence – Singapore’s shrinking manpower sources. The nation’s resident total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.05 in 2022, dipping beneath the earlier report of 1.1 in 2020.

This implies that the RSN can not function its fleet with the identical quantity of manpower as different international counterparts, stated RADM Wat. 

The navy, due to this fact, has been an early adopter of automation on its vessels. This has led to the RSN having the ability to function ships with one-third to half the crew, in contrast with crew power on similar-sized vessels in different 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,” he stated.

This will happen because the RSN leverages unmanned expertise to proceed to broaden its “operational envelope” with out levying a heavy manpower value, he added.

Maritime safety unmanned floor wessels (USVs) will quickly function alongside the navy’s manned vessels, such because the littoral mission vessels, to patrol Singapore waters. 

The upcomoing multi-role fight vessel (MRCV) will function as a “mothership”, able to taking cost and coordinating the actions of a number of unmanned platforms at sea. 

The navy additionally faucets synthetic intelligence (AI) and knowledge analytics. 

For instance, it has integrated AI in its every day front-line operations to extra effectively establish potential intruders from land and sea through its surveillance techniques.

On board ships, the RSN has additionally been experimenting with knowledge analytics to assist with predictive upkeep, and to assist its engineers preserve the operational readiness of its platforms.