UNDERGRADUATE PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING

PROGRAMME (UGPMET)

AY 2011/2012 Special Term 1 (7 May– 15 Jun 2012)

SF0003 - Military Studies (MS)

Term Essay Question 6

“Operations Other Than War (OOTW) will constitute the primary operational challenge for
the SAF.” Do you agree?

Lecturer: Associate Professor Bernard Loo

Dr Emrys Chew

Tutor: Dr Ong WeiChong

Name: Cheong Di Lun Daren

Group: 8A

Date of Submission: 01/06/12

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CONTENTS

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3

Singapore's Vulnerability in the Region.............................................................................. 3

The Third Generation (3G) SAF.......................................................................................... 4

Singapore and the World...................................................................................................... 4

Conventional Operation and OOTW................................................................................... 5

Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 6

References........................................................................................................................... 7

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Introduction

The definition of war is traditionally “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict
between states or nations”[1]. The conventional method of warfare is what the first generation and
second generation SAF was established to handle. However, other than the traditional “state on
state” based war, there is also the need to develop capabilities to handle operations other than war
(OOTW), consist of non-conventional military operations as opposed to conventional warfighting
where it involves non war-related activity such as human assistance and disaster relief (HADR),
peacekeeping operations (PKO) as well as the idea of a 4 th generation warfare which comprises of
insurgency, terrorism and irregular conflicts[2]. The third generation SAF is under constant
transformation where it will possess the ability to handle a full spectrum of operations to have the
capabilities to fight decisively in war while being able to respond flexibly in peacetime.

Singapore's “new strategic environment”[3] has potential threats both transnationally and
regionally, the ability for SAF to be able handle OOTW will become increasingly important to the
SAF to safeguard the interest of Singapore to protect its sovereignty. Even if conventional
operations in the SAF is unlikely to be replaced by OOTW, the complexity and uncertainty of
OOTW makes it very likely that it will constitute to the primary operational challenge for the SAF.

Singapore's Vulnerability in the Region

Singapore has a total land area of 778 kilometre square and has a population of 5.18 million people
where it is small as compared to its neighbouring countries in the region– Malaysia (Land area of
329847 kilometer square and population of 28 million) and Indonesia (Land area of 1919440
kilometre square and a population of 239 million). Singapore's lack of natural resources along with
its densely populated area makes it heavily reliant on oversea sources for basic needs such as food,
fuel and water. With reference to the statement made by former President B.J Habibie in 1998,
Singapore is perceived as a “little red dot” [4] and this term can be fitting to describe how other
countries sees Singapore and suggest a sense of belittlement and its potential insecurities that it may
face from other countries.

However, small and reliant as Singapore is, it has grown significantly into a thriving centre of trade
and industry where on the Mundi index, Singapore is ranked 5th in terms of Gross Domestic Product
per capita with US$62100 (Malaysia ranked 75 and Indonesia ranked 155)[5]. Singapore indeed has
quite a number of “external political and economical interest to defend” especially when Singapore
depends heavily on open global trading system where its prosperity comes from “its good strategic
location, good government, domestic stability, region and global stability”[6]. It is thus important
for Singapore to be able to safeguard its interest despite the uncertain environment as any disruption
to the peace of Singapore would be detrimental to its economy.

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The Third Generation (3G) SAF

The SAF underwent 2 generations of transformation before reaching the 3G SAF. The first
generation started (1G) off with initial build up of the armed forces to build up self-defence
capability. The first generation lasted till about mid 1980s where all the equipments were bought
second-hand from other countries such as the AMX-13 light tank and A-4 skyhawk. The second
generation(2G) SAF was where the capability was upgraded by acquiring new systems as well as
upgrading the existing systems. The second generation lasted from mid 1980s to year 2000 where
the idea of combined arms division was conceived. The 3G SAF is the current generation where it is
capable of a full spectrum of operations by the leverage on 4 factors[7]:

1. Holistic Advancements
2. Focusing on people and value
3. Technologically Advanced
4. Integrated and networked.

The main difference between the 1G, 2G SAF verses the 3G SAF is its ability to be adaptable such
that the transformation is a continuous learning cycle that happens according to the needs of the
organisation. It means that the 3G SAF is “a fighting force with perpetual motion, experimenting
with new battle concepts and military technology and constantly”[8]. This is what makes the 3G
SAF so formidable that it is able to handle the a full spectrum of operation. The transformation is in
tandem with the anticipation of OOTW where the SAF would not be want to be 'caught with the
pants down' meaning to be unprepared for any non-conventional operations that might pose a
challenge to the SAF. One of the key for the transformation for the 3G SAF is the Integrated
Knowledge-Based Command and Control (IKC2) for better decision making by having a network
of systems for a more effective command and control as well as accurate and timely application of
force. According to the MINDEF website, the 3G SAF will “possess the capabilities to fight
decisively in war and respond flexibly in peacetime for counter-terrorism, peacekeeping and
humanitarian aid.”. As the SAF undergoes the transformation, the 3G SAF will be well rounded in
OOTW where it will be more ready to take on challenges that are non-conventional to the usual
military operations.

Singapore and the World

In the writer's opinion, in the near future, its is unlikely that Singapore will get into a large scale
armed conflict due to the fact that a country's prosperity is closely linked to the country's peace and
stability and any state that goes into a open armed conflict will only damage their respectively
economy and no state would want to go into an armed conflict unless for a very strong cause such
as to safeguard the sovereignty of the country. According to singastat, the total amount of foreign
direct investment in Singapore has grown from 216 billion SGD in 2001 to 618 billion SGD in
2011, with investments from many countries from Asia (152 Billion from 16 countries in 2011),
Europe (227 Billion SGD from 8 countries in 2011), United States(65 Billion SGD in 2011), South
and central America and the Caribbean (141 billion SGD in 2011) and several other countries
around the world[9].

The stability and peace of Singapore is important for the other countries as the economical system
are so intertwined that instability in Singapore can have a butterfly effect on the other countries, that
is to say, the probability of having a large scale conventional armed conflict with other country is
low. Any bilateral conflicts would surely result in the intervention of other countries to maintain
equilibrium in states.

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Having said that, although a large scale armed conflict is an unlikely idea in the near future, there is
always tension between Singapore and other countries in terms of various issues such as the water
agreement between Singapore and Malaysia where both side has been known to chide or even issue
threats to each other but fortunately the tension has never evolved beyond that. The reason (of not
going into armed conflict) can be arguably, due to the economical and political ties between the 2
states and that both countries were unwilling to go into a armed conflict.

This is just one example to illustrate the stakes which the countries have to undertake to go into an
armed conflict where the dangers of a conventional war to occur in the near future is present but at
low possibility while OOTW is more likely to happen and the argument is illustrated in the next
chapter.

Conventional Operation and OOTW

Even if there are some factors that points toward the trend and anticipation of OOTW operations,
would OOTW eventually replace the need to train for conventional warfare in the future? The short
but obvious answer is no. The mission of the SAF is to “enhance Singapore's peace and security
through deterrence and diplomacy, and should these fail, to secure a swift and decisive victory over
the aggressor.”[10]. The first line of defence of the SAF's mission is still through deterrence and
diplomacy and participating in OOTW such as HADR and peace-keeping helps to maintain
Singapore's presence in the region which acts as a stage for the SAF to display its capabilities. The
equipments used to project power in the battlefield were used to provide aid to other people. For
example, the HADR for the Aceh Tsunami where the SAF deployed medical relief on the very next
day of the tsunami and additional medical and engineering teams thereafter to aid the Indonesian
people affected. This has directly showcase the capabilities and effectiveness of the SAF where it
act as a form of deterrence in terms of superiority in capabilities and also a form of diplomacy as a
part of the international community to aid each other in times of need.

The second part of the mission statement states that “should the diplomacy and deterrence fails, to
achieve a swift and decisive victory.”[10]. Ultimately, the core business of the SAF is still
conventional warfare where most of the forces are trained to fight under conventional situation.
This is in sync with the capabilities of the 3G SAF of being able to both “fight decisively in war”
and “respond flexibly for counter terrorism, peacekeeping and humanitarian aid.”[7]. The need to be
trained in Conventional operation would therefore not be able to be replaced by the training for
OOTW but is also quite important as the part of the SAF.

However, since its establishment, SAF has yet to experience any conventional war but its operations
has revolved around OOTW whereas the deployment usually involves doing mission-specific task
that is very different from what is required in the conventional warfare. The specificity and
uncertainty of OOTW would still pose as a bigger challenge for the SAF as it is hard to be able to
'prepare for thing that you do not know'.

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Conclusion

Singapore's position in the region and its achievements makes it a potential target in the region. The
'intertwined' economics of Singapore make it less likely for a conventional war to occur whereas the
3G transformation of the SAF has aligned itself to this so as to be able to handle full spectrum of
operations such that OOTW is integrated as a part of the transformation. Although conventional
warfare would not be fully replaced by OOTW in the future, the specificity and uncertainty of
OOTW would constitute as a primary challenge for the SAF.

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References

[1] Definations of war. Merriam-Webster. 2010-08-13. [Online]

Available: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war (Accessed 29 May 2012)

[2] Ong Y.Z. (03 May 2010): On Fourth Generation warfare:Implications to the SAF. Available:
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/publications/pointer/journals/2009/v35n2/feature3.html
(Accessed 29 May 2012)

[3] Joshua H and Manjeet S.P. (23 July 2003): Singaproe's Security challenges: How does the RMA
Fit In. Idds Commentries
http://dr.ntu.edu.sg/bitstream/handle/10220/4058/RSIS-
COMMENT_221.pdf;jsessionid=80A5FDC11F555DBA4AE791A619492DD9?sequence=1
(Accessed on 27 May 2012)

[4] Wikipedia. Little red dot. [Online] Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_red_dot

(Accessed 27 May 2012)

[5] Mundi Index(2011). [Online] Available: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=67(Accessed

27 May 2012)

[6] MINDEF (24 Apr 2011). About the 3rd generation SAF. [Online]
Available: http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/mindef_websites/topics/3g/what.html (Accessed 27
May 2012)

[7] Singstat (2011). [Online] Foreign Direct Investment In Singaproe by country/region, 2001-2010.
[Online] Available: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/economy/biz/foreigninvestment.pdf
(Accessed 29 may 2012)

[8] iMINDEF- About Us (24 Apr 2010). MINDEF. [Online]

Available: http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/about_us/mission.html (Accessed 29 May 2012)

[9] Andrew T.H. Tan (2012): Punching Above Its Weight:

Singapore’s Armed Forces and Its Contribution to Foreign Policy, Defence Studies,
11:4, 672-697, doi: 10.1080/14702436.2011.642196 (Accessed 29 May 2012)

[10] Kemen T. (2012): Decisive Victors primer on third. [Online]

Available: http://kementah.blogspot.com/2012/03/decisive-victors-primer-on-third.html9 (Accessed
29may2012)