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| Singapore's Formidable class Frigate |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
The country’s defense minister reveals how it is contending with its most potent threat.
On July 1, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) commemorated SAF Day at a parade officiated by the country’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. Ahead of the parade, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen discussed Singapore’s ongoing efforts to address its defense challenges in a media interview.
The biggest challenge Singapore faces, Ng said, is demography. That is not surprising given current and future trends (See: “Can Singapore Overcome its Future Challenges?”). In a speech in May, Ng had revealed that the number of full-time National Servicemen would shrink by about 30 percent from now till 2030.
However, he also stressed that the SAF was handling these constraints better than some other militaries, in part because Singapore’s economic growth ensures that its military is sufficiently resourced to make up for reduced manpower with modern systems.
“Our strategy for the SAF has never been to compete with numbers because that would be the weakest basis to compete,” he said. “It’s always been with superior skills and knowledge, intelligence, information and technology.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat