SAF trials drone technology and integration at Exercise Wallaby

SINGAPORE – Unmanned aircraft of various shapes and sizes are being put through their paces in the expansive skies over Shoalwater Bay in Queensland, Australia, as the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) trials its next generation of drone and counter-drone technology.

At

Exercise Wallaby

– Singapore’s largest overseas unilateral military drill – the SAF will execute 17 field trials, including the use of a coordinated swarm of more than 50 drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Drones will also be used in armoured operations, with crews for the Hunter Armoured Fighting Vehicle launching micro-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to scout ahead of their convoys.

Other trials include the deployment of autonomous vehicles to jam an enemy’s drones, and the use of drones fitted with 5G base stations to extend the SAF’s command network.

Taken together, the 2025 exercise marks a significant leap forward in the SAF’s integration of advanced technologies, said Major Robert Justin Morales Naquila, deputy branch head of Mindef’s Future Systems and Technology Directorate.

By testing unmanned systems, artificial intelligence and enhanced connectivity, the SAF is preparing for future challenges, he told the media on Oct 26.

Conducting these trials at the Shoalwater Bay training area – which is roughly five times the size of Singapore – allows the SAF to validate such technology under realistic battlefield conditions, he added.

“Soldiers have hands-on experience, engineers can refine their designs in the field, and commanders can see how these emerging technologies can enhance decision-making and mission outcomes,” he said.

The results of the trials will be carefully studied with the SAF’s defence technology community, and promising concepts, such as one-to-many UAV controls, may be scaled up, he added.

One-to-many refers to a single pilot controlling a “swarm” of drones, multiplying his capability in the field. On Oct 25, the army and the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) showed the deployment of a fleet of 50 Parrot Anafi drones to scan and rapidly create a three-dimensional terrain map of a battlefield.

On the drone swarm capability, DSO National Laboratories’ robotics division programme director, Mr Stephen Chai, said the SAF’s defence technology community works closely with the army to co-develop cutting-edge solutions.

He noted that his team has been to each of the last five editions of Exercise Wallaby, and in doing so, “the team has gained invaluable field experience to more deeply understand how to better use our developed 50-drone swarm for the army”.

The military use of drones has become a focus in recent years, following their extensive deployment in recent conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war.

In August, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing announced that all recruits enlisting at the Basic Military Training Centre on Pulau Tekong

will be trained in the basics of flying and evading drones

.

The army is moving towards using more drones because it wants to protect its soldiers, who are its most important asset, said Military Expert 5 Teo Liang Kai from the Army Ops Tech Office, Systems Integration Office.

Drones can also improve the effectiveness and efficiency of SAF operations, he said. The feedback from troops on the ground has been positive so far, he added, though work still remains to ensure good signal strength and seamless communications between the various wireless systems.

Apart from trials, the 2025 exercise is also about validating the use of drones for persistent surveillance over vast tracts of land, and to quickly identify and target the enemy for accurate strikes.

Captain Chloe Tan of 6th Singapore Division/Headquarters Sense and Strike said this was the first time that the army has deployed its “full force” of six V15 drones to cover an area five times the size of Singapore.

The sheer size of the training area meant that her teams had to be deployed all over Shoalwater Bay, said the officer commanding of 11th Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence Battalion.

“This is a very large area of operations, and in order to (fulfil our mission) we have to trust a lot in our training, and the leadership that each of my platoon commanders has on the ground,” she said.

Clarification note: This story has been updated following a clarification from Mindef on who was involved in the controlling of drones.