REPUBLIC of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) air defence squadrons have begun using modified laptop computers to keep watch over Singapore skies day and night.
Made shock-resistant for military use, these laptops provide real-time electronic alerts on the type, number and location of hostile and friendly planes, helicopters and drones.
They can also compute the time missiles will take to reach their targets and allow troops to send text messages to one another.
In the RSAF's arsenal of hardware, these laptops are the 'brains' that can cue anti-aircraft missiles and guns towards their targets round the clock, in all weather.
Developed by engineers at the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), the national authority on military technology, the system was unveiled yesterday with other sensors and weapons.
Among them were the Mechanised Igla self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system and the truck-mounted Giraffe AMB radar, which can go 13m into the air for a bird's eye view of a situation.
Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean was at Tengah Air Base yesterday to watch these new capabilities in action in a simulated air defence mission mounted by the Air Defence and Operations Command.
The mission showed how these sensors and weapons, linked in a network, allowed the sharing of data with gun and missile units in real time.
Explaining why such a network was vital for defending Singapore, Mr Teo said: 'An airborne threat can be picked up by more than one sensor and assigned to the most appropriate shooter.
'Other sensors and shooters in the system will also continue to deal with the threat, even if any one sensor or shooter is damaged.'
He also announced that the RSAF's four E-2C Hawkeye radar planes would be replaced by four Gulfstream 550 (G550) Airborne Early Warning planes.
Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Benedict Lim said the first G550 is expected here by late next year and the remaining three, by 2010.
The E-2Cs will remain in service until the G550s are operationally ready. They are expected to be retired after the G550s take over the airborne early-warning role, he said.
Mr Teo praised the defence scientists and industry for giving the Singapore Armed Forces an edge with their technological expertise and innovative abilities.
These capabilities were 'hard to replicate', he said.
At the event, Captain (NS) Tan Boon How, a battery commander with a Mechanised Igla unit, said his men achieved 'wonderful results' during a live-firing trial against low-flying targets in South Africa.
'The network enhanced our awareness and responsiveness tremendously,' he added.
Assistant Professor Bernard Loo of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies' war studies faculty, said home-grown technology will make RSAF weapon systems harder to defeat in combat.
Prof Loo said: 'If you have a commercially available command and control system, eventually people would be able to find a counter-measure to defeat such a system. Developing unique systems using home-grown technology provides added security to the network.'
