SINGAPORE — Singapore’s military is implementing new doctrines to counter swarms of low-cost drones and boosting its drone capabilities by relying largely on Israeli-made systems as the baseline of its fleet, the Air Force chief said.
“We’re no strangers to drones, having used them for almost 40 years, but they will play a much bigger role in the Royal Singapore Air Force in terms of scale,” Maj. Gen. Kelvin Fan, the chief of Singapore’s Air Force, told Defense News. “We are currently operationalizing our Orbiter 4 and Hermes 900 UAVs.”
Both drones are produced by Israeli-based companies, namely Aeronautics Group and Elbit Systems, and were center-stage at the static display of this year’s Singapore Airshow.
The Orbiter 4 is a close-range drone for maritime and land operations, designed for surveillance and intelligence-gathering missions. It can fly for up to 24 hours and has a maximum range of 150 kilometers, according to a fact sheet from the Singapore Ministry of Defense.
The country purchased an undisclosed number of the drone in 2022 and acquired the variant that is launched via a catapult and recovered with a parachute.
Although the manufacturer advertises that it can operate in harsh weather, some RSAF operators here told Defense News that it has struggled in windy conditions.
Singapore confirmed last year, meanwhile, that it bought the medium-altitude long-endurance Hermes 900. Elbit lists the system as having a maximum takeoff weight of 1,180 kilograms, or 2,601 pounds, and an endurance of up to 36 hours.
In a 2024 interview, the former RSAF chief stated that the service’s fleet of Hermes 450 and IAI Heron 1 drones needed to be replaced, with the former having entered into service in 2007.
As part of the country’s move to becoming more drone-centric, Singapore will implement drone training for all operationally ready national service members, known as the trained reservist force that has already completed their two-year full-time national service duty.
The first units are set to begin training in mid-2026. The preparation will include videos and theory, simulations and flying drones in urban environments. It will then move on to operating them in the field.
Fan also highlighted that in July, the island country established a new Drone Rapid Operational, Integration, and Deployment, or DROID, unit tasked with experimenting, modifying and operationalizing small drones.
It also created a dedicated UAS Warfare and Tactics Centre, whose role is in part to support research and trials of micro and mini drones.
Singapore is unique in that it is an entirely urbanized city-state, where all of its population of over 5.6 million resides in urban areas. According to the World Bank, the vast majority of its land is dedicated to non-rural infrastructure and industry.
This environment makes operating military drones vastly different and in many ways more challenging than in open-field operations, considering the complexity of obstacles, risks to civilians and signal interference.
“Just as we harness the potential of drones, we are also developing the counter-drone shield, especially against low-cost and swarm attacks,” Fan added.
In a speech given in Parliament last year, Singaporean Minister for Defense Ng Eng Hen said that the country’s air force is focused on developing sensors, jammers and other weapons to detect and counter smaller drones in addition to existing air defense capabilities.
Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.
