Defense Dogma: Singapore's Military Service Ritual Ripe For Reform

2025-05-14 06:09:40

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Since 1967, National Service (NS) has stood as a rite of passage for generations of Singaporean men, strengthening our defense, uniting our diverse society and instilling discipline and resilience among the population. It is a legacy that commands deep respect, forged in a time of uncertainty when our nation's very survival hung in the balance.

But nearly 60 years on, as the threats facing Singapore have evolved beyond the need for a large conventional army, a growing number of Singaporeans rightly believe we must not blindly enshrine the two-year duration as an untouchable tradition. To do so is to risk hindering not only our young men at a pivotal stage of their lives, but also the nation's broader potential.

Two developments make such a reduction possible. Firstly, as the meteoric advancement of Operations Technology (Ops-Tech) facilitated a six-month shortening of NS in 2004, our contemporary access to devices that were then considered fanciful science fiction should likewise warrant a second contraction.

At the forefront of this revolution are next-generation training tools , such as multimodal interaction interfaces powered by deep and convolutional neural networks. Already deployed in numerous developed militaries, these systems simulate realistic combat scenarios and deliver immediate, data-driven feedback more precisely than a human officer could, dramatically accelerating the learning curves of recruits.

For Singapore, with a paltry 72 square kilometres allocated for defence, this technology would be particularly instrumental for streamlining training. Battalions would no longer have to wait their turn to use local practice grounds or rely as heavily on utilising far-flung bases in Brunei or the United States.

In fact, efforts are already underway to combine these simulations with live-fire exercises in SAFTI City and Australia, showcasing how flexibly this technology can be integrated to prepare our conscripts.

The rise of digitization, notably through robotic process automation , also creates opportunities to shorten the duration of NS by taking over menial administrative tasks, from distributing supplies to clerical work.

While these are mainly taken up by men who score lower on the Physical Employment Standards, manpower shortages have currently forced several combat-fit soldiers to take up these roles, whereas automating these duties will free them to focus on honing essential soldiering skills.

In fact, the implementation of similar technologies in the American military has already led over 75% of personnel to report higher morale, improving learning and camaraderie.

Technology's transformation of the battlefield itself, as shown by the swarms of drones, unmanned surface vessels and quadrupedal ground vehicles increasingly populating Singapore's training grounds, will also enable further cuts.

While soldiers must still be trained to operate and manage these logistics and reconnaissance systems, their deployment can significantly reduce the physical strain traditionally associated with such missions.

This directly addresses the concerns of proponents of a two-year NS, such as Singapore National Service expert Ho Shu Huang , as conscripts will now have more time to master military techniques instead of“decompressing”, significantly shortening training cycles without compromising operational readiness.

Secondly, the changing nature of the threats facing Singapore allows us to pivot to alternative, yet equally effective, defence measures that would justify a shortening of NS.

As SG101, a government platform detailing Singapore's defense priorities, states itself, our primary threats to national security today stem from terrorism and cyberattacks, which is evidenced by incidents ranging from bomb threats on Air India flights to ransomware attacks on DBS and SingHealth.

MENAFN14052025000159011032ID1109547428

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.