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Singapore shows off its arsenal, but "secret" weapons under wraps

by Martin Abbugao
Singapore, Aug 8, 2006
== Singapore will mount a major display of its military arsenal when it celebrates the 41st anniversary of its independence on Wednesday, but defence officials say not all its lethal firepower is visible.

The rich city-state has for decades spent billions of dollars on hardware and imposed mandatory military training for all able-bodied young men to make its armed forces the most modern and well-equipped in Southeast Asia.

While much of the technology and hardware comes from overseas -- including fighters, frigates and attack helicopters -- Singapore also has its own "secret" conventional weapons under development, according to a senior defence ministry official.

"This is really the sharp end of our technology edge. This is important because Singapore is a very small country," Quek Tong Boon, deputy secretary for technology and transformation at the ministry of defence, tells AFP in an exclusive interview.

While the defence ministry has publicised some of its locally-made armaments such as drone surveillance aircraft, artillery and robots designed for urban warfare, it is the fruits of confidential homegrown research that will keep potential enemies guessing.

"We lack strategic depth. We also lack natural resources. We can never take our defence and security for granted," Quek says.

"We not only want to use technology as a force multiplier in terms of being able to do things more efficiently and more effectively, but we also want to build some secret system to offset our disadvantage."

Technology's value in ensuring battlefield superiority was displayed convincingly during the two Gulf Wars in which US forces showcased a range of precision-guided weapons.

With just 697 square kilometres (279 square miles) of land area and a population of 3.6 million citizens and permanent residents, Singapore was once dismissed by the former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie as a "little red dot" on the map, although ties with Jakarta have since improved.

Southeast Asia's most economically advanced nation has not disputed the moniker, but made it clear that any aggressor will pay a heavy price.

Quek declines to discuss the undisclosed homegrown weapons in detail, saying "it has to remain a secret", and will not say how powerful they are.

"These are things we think we can't even get from the open market. Nobody would want to sell to us ... We've been undertaking defence research and development for more than 30 years already. It's something that takes a long, long time," Quek says.

Singapore has adopted a pragmatic approach in meeting its defence needs.

In addition to regular purchases from the international market, it upgrades existing equipment and uses local talent, through a network of autonomous research laboratories and industry partners, to develop what it cannot buy.

"We are too small to be self-sufficient," Quek says. "So we look at the market. If nobody else could sell us what we want, we don't have a choice but do local development."

-- A history of weapons manufacturing --

Two years after gaining independence in 1965, the young nation started manufacturing M-16 rifles, and later bullets, under license through a company called Chartered Industry of Singapore, marking the beginnings of its defence industry.

In the 1980s, Singapore was making its own artillery and upgraded its fleet of A4 Skyhawk fighter jets by installing an F-18 engine and enhancing the avionics system.

From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, the country began to integrate the upgraded systems to allow the army, navy and air force to fight as a unified entity.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said recently that Singapore allocates nearly 10 percent of its military budget to research and development, information technology procurement and experimentation.

In the financial year to March 2007, 10.05 billion dollars out of a total budget of 41.21 billion Singapore dollars (25.3 billion US), is set aside for defence. The military share increased 8.5 percent from the previous year.

Singapore is currently in the process of transforming its military into a "third generation (3G)" fighting machine through further upgrades and more seamless integration.

Last year, the government chose the F-15 over France's Rafale to replace its ageing Skyhawks. Singapore also operates F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-5 Tigers, both US-made, as well as Apache attack helicopters.

The Singapore navy's inventory includes four Swedish-made submarines and four locally-developed transport ships, called landing ship tanks (LSTs). The LSTs and Chinook transport helicopters played a key role in humanitarian efforts after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami disaster in Indonesia.

In 2000, the defence ministry entered into a technology transfer deal with France's Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) for six stealth frigates capable of air, surface and anti-submarine warfare.

Under the deal, DCN built the first vessel in France and the five others were constructed by local shipyard ST Marine using the DCN blueprint.

The frigates have "a very sexy French body, but what you may not know is that it has got a Singaporean brain", Quek says. The brain is called the "combat management system" which integrates the ship's weapons and sensor systems.

Singapore has replaced the US-made M-16 with its homegrown SAR-21 assault rifle as standard issue for its soldiers.

The SAR-21 is designed for the smaller Asian physique and developers say it has superior accuracy and performance.

The Primus self-propelled howitzer and Pegasus, another self-propelled howitzer light enough to be airlifted by a plane or helicopter, are also designed locally and need fewer soldiers to operate.

Among the other home-grown weapons that Singapore has spoken about publicly are robotic vehicles that can defuse bombs.

But unless or until an aggressor forces Singapore's military to show it's hand, the "secret" weapons will remain a mystery.

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