Ng urges SAF to exploit data intelligently to stay ahead
Defence Minister says data capabilities are equivalent to firepower
The SAF must learn to use and exploit data more intelligently to stay ahead, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said yesterday.
"Whichever military builds stronger capability in digital data exploitation will have the equivalent of greater firepower and manoeuvrability," he said, adding that its impact is "all pervasive".
He was delivering the keynote address at the Ministry of Defence Productivity and Innovation in Daily Efforts (Pride) Symposium 2018 at Nanyang Polytechnic.
The event recognises the achievements and contributions of units and individuals in promoting a culture of organisational excellence, innovation and productivity in Mindef and the SAF.
A total of 67 awards were given for efforts that achieved savings of more than $158 million in the last financial year.
With increasing digitisation comes increasing precision, Dr Ng said, adding the impact of precision is not only on artillery, but "the entire force structures of modern militaries are predicated on a digital battlefield".
Giving an example of SAF efforts, Dr Ng said facial recognition will increasingly be used to screen both vehicles and personnel entering and leaving camps and bases.
Among the award winners were the army's Maintenance and Engineering Support Formation and the air force's Air Power Generation Command and Air Combat Command.
They won the Minister for Defence Award.
Chief maintenance and engineering officer, Military Expert 7 Tan Mu Yen, said his formation has embarked on a series of data analytics initiatives.
"For example, we are using telemetry data to conduct investigations into any malfunctions observed in our unmanned aerial vehicles, reducing the equipment downtime from 48 hours to about eight hours."
The winning team from the Air Combat Command came up with an alternative method to calibrate the navigation compass of the F-15SG aircraft.
This procedure, implemented last year, has halved the time needed to calibrate the compass.
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