Interview with Stephen Barnard, Publisher European Security & Defence
Mr. Ravinder Singh, Group Chief Operating Officer (Technology & Innovation) and President Defence & Public Security
ESD: How has the company’s strategy changed to address the drive towards digitisation? What proportion of time / effort / resources do you typically allocate to R&D / R&T, especially regarding digitisation?
RS: We regard innovation as the bedrock of our company. We place great emphasis on driving a culture of innovation through building our core engineering capabilities and innovation programmes, as well as investing in companies with relevant technologies.
The Group invests up to $500m in annual spending on Research & Development. We also have strategic technology centres, such as our Group Technology Office and Group Engineering Centre, which identify, develop, and leverage technologies to build next-generation capabilities and solutions.
One example of our constant investment in R&D is in ammunition. We have developed close to 60 variants of 40mm ammunition products, with the latest variant being the world’s first rocket-assisted 40mm low-velocity wall penetrating round.
Another example would be the setting up of business units such as DeepBrain that look specifically into developing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions. The team consists of skilled Data and AI professionals who work on data platforms and sophisticated multimodal sensemaking systems leveraging the latest AI technology.
To access new technologies, our Corporate Ventures unit, ST Engineering Ventures, scouts and invests in new technologies and innovative solutions complementary to our strategic capabilities in high-growth areas.
Our emphasis on innovation does not only come from within the Group. We consistently engage with our customers and end users to gain insights and understand their evolving needs and challenges. Through these dialogues and engagement, we ensure that the solutions we co-develop with our customers address real-world requirements effectively now and for the future.
ESD: How do you see the market developing for ST Engineering?
RS: There are several factors that are driving growth within the Defence industry, which also presents us with opportunities for market development.
In Europe, as defence budgets rise and the demand for capabilities surge, we see opportunities to address urgent requirements by working closely with partners to localise solutions for our European customers.
In MENA, where defence demands are rapidly growing, and emphasis is placed on localisation, end users are looking for diversity in their supply chain. Leveraging this trend, we work with local partners to deliver relevant solutions.
We are also working closely with our neighbouring countries in the Asia Pacific region to collaborate with their defence industry.
ESD: What has ST Engineering learned or identified as key challenges or technology trends in the defence industry, and which platforms / products / solutions are meeting those needs?
RS: There are several lessons that we have learnt from the evolution of modern conflicts:
- It has become more manoeuvre-centric, and logistics support is unable to keep up with the needs and demands.
- Importance of the ability to see further and shoot faster – tactical fires are being pushed down to the lowest echelons for responsive Fire-Counter Fire capability.
- Distributed forces highlight the importance of connectivity and networks, and shared situational awareness.
- Urbanised battlefields that are cluttered with combatants and non-combatants. Precision firepower is needed to minimise collateral damage.
- Enhancing communications capabilities within an urban environment is also needed to overcome screening and jamming.
- The importance of supply chain resilience: More countries now want to have in-country industry capacity and manufacturing capability, especially in critical areas such as ammunition.
Modern militaries are increasing their budgets to invest in capabilities to address the gaps in these areas. These are the same products and capabilities we focus on in our markets of interest.
- Our range of 40mm, 120mm, and 155mm ammunition. Apart from constantly innovating around new variants, we also focus on capabilities such as precision-guided variants to minimise collateral damage or sympathetic detonation. We are also working with partners to localise production capabilities in various regions.
- The Ground Deployed Advanced Mortar System (GDAMS) and Super Rapid Advanced Mortar System (SRAMS) are designed to be affordable and easy to equip tactical echelons with shoot-and-scoot capability.
- The Bronco and ExtremV All Terrain Tracked Carriers are field-proven platforms capable of providing manoeuvre forces with logistical support. Both offer superior mobility and flexible configurations to support a diverse range of missions. New solutions like the Prism AI Vision Enhancement enhance situational awareness with its AI-powered software.
- The development of a GVA / NATO GVA-compatible “drop-in” Ultra Electronic Architecture Kit, in partnership with Ultra PCS, enables the conversion and modernisation of legacy fleets in all armies, converting “analogue” vehicles into digital vehicles. This extends the operational life span of the vehicles and modernises their fighting capability at a fraction of the cost of buying new vehicles.
- With the increase in digital solutions integrated into the platforms, more power will be needed for the capabilities. Electrification with Hybrid Electric Drive kits not only improves the sustainability of vehicles, enabling new capabilities like stealth drive and silent watch, but smart power management allows for power to be exported for the additional digital capabilities. It is relatively affordable, available for vehicles across the weight classes, and the technology is readily available because we have been developing it for the past eight years.
- Predictive analytics integrated into MRO capabilities to keep the fleet running at high availability. Rapid turnaround time for battlefield repair and regenerate assets in the shortest time possible for air, land and marine assets.
ESD: Cross-domain Manned-Unmanned Teaming is a particularly hot topic right now: what does ST Engineering offer, particularly in terms of command and control?
RS: We have both the experience and technology expertise across multiple domains to develop and implement a secured digital backbone for MUMT operationalisation.
Our AI-enhanced C2/C3 systems power integrated command posts and forward Ops Hubs to digitally link frontline forces and connect all echelons up to the strategic and operations headquarters. These systems are enhanced with AI to augment human capabilities, sensemaking and data analytics help turn data into actionable insights.
A suite of Defence Platform Electronics and Naval Platform Electronics solutions seamlessly integrate advanced connectivity, secure communications, network and system management into a robust and scalable system to empower a range of platforms. Integrated soldier systems create a coordinated network of soldiers to provide actionable intelligence, allowing on-the-ground forces to make rapid, decentralised decisions.
Digitalised land vehicle platforms such as the Terrex Infantry Fighting Vehicle or naval platforms like the Multi Role Combatant Vessels are capable of acting as a “mothership” that connects and operates unmanned units like robots or Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Taurus UGVs), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (such as Veloce 15 / 60 UAVs) and Unmanned Surface Vessels (such as Venus USVs).
All of these come together as a true manifestation of Manned-Unmanned Teaming.
