'They have to think 3D': All recruits at BMTC will be trained to fly drones, says Chan Chun Sing, Singapore News
Among these changes is the introduction of drones into the military training curriculum, which all recruits will have to learn to operate, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing said during his visit to Pulau Tekong on Monday (Aug 4).
Chan was making his first visit to the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) BMT Centre (BMTC) alongside Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad where they saw many of the new technological advancements at work, including the drones.
"We will always know that no matter how many soldiers we have, we will never fight on the basis that we outnumber others," Chan told the media. "The SAF has always used technology to complement our fighting capabilities at the individual level and at the unit level."
In order to do so, the latest advancement to be unveiled is the training of every recruit to be able to make use of drone technology, both for utilisation and to counter the use of drones against Singapore.
The first group of soldiers to learn basic drone skills during BMT enlisted in July.
Chan also stressed the importance of drone technology — soldiers of the past are trained to be situationally aware on a two-dimensional plane, but the same cannot be applied for urban terrain with unmanned technologies in play, he said.
"Training for [utilising] drones isn't just about the technical skills... it is also a larger exercise to train them in their three-dimensional spatial awareness, because when they fight a battle — how they apply their weapon systems — they have to think three dimensional, not just two dimensional."
Going forward, using technology will be how the SAF will "multiply our capabilities", Chan said. Soldiers may have only operated with a single rifle in the past, but the future — and present — will see one soldier operating a weapon system and suite of technologies to augment their capabilities, Chan envisioned.
"We have evolved the way we apply technology, but there are some things that will never change and must never change in the armed forces," Chan said.
"That is the will to fight, the inner spirit, the gumption, the resilience that our soldiers must be equipped with." Personalised training, faster recovery
Aside from the drones, Chan also addressed how personalised training can get in BMTC today.
Speaking on how training has evolved in recent times, Chan highlighted how trainers can now be informed of the heart rate of an entire platoon of soldiers through smartwatches on each of their wrists.
This allows trainers to improve optimisation and safety for soldiers, which expands beyond BMTC and into the units recruits eventually enter, he shared.
Chan also emphasised how injury recovery methods have seen similar advancements — utilising data to guide conditioning, recuperation and recovery.
In the past, a single injury could set a soldier back on their training while they had to recover, but that may no longer be the case.
Presently, even as a soldier's injury recovers, data utilised by physiotherapists under the BMTC's physiotherapy centre allows them to shorten recovery time in a safer process that also permits the soldier to continue their modified course based on their injury.
"The faster the soldier can recover, the more optimal his or her performance is, the better we are able to utilise our manpower resources. So that is a very key to how the SAF can optimise our finite manpower resources," Chan added.
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khooyihang@asiaone.com
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