Acquisition of high-tech equipment has gone hand in hand with skills improvement in the SAF. After decades of operating second-hand submarines, for example, the Republic of Singapore Navy has introduced its state-of-the-art Invincible-class submarines, manned by highly trained crews.
The first two submarines were commissioned in September — the same month that Singapore’s first fully digitalised armoured fighting vehicle, the Hunter, debuted in Exercise Wallaby in Australia. The annual exercise is the SAF’s largest unilateral overseas exercise.
2. HOW THEY MASTER DIPLOMACY
For city-states throughout history, diplomacy has also been key to survival and advancing national interests. Venice, for example, had an extensive network of diplomats.
“Venetians were ready to be sent into the world. They knew languages. They were curious. And they travelled all around the Mediterranean area, northern Europe, Africa … and the Far East,” said author Alberto Toso Fei, an expert in Venice’s history.
“More than this, … they decided to found the diplomatic post — everywhere. This is a Venetian invention.”
In 1965, when Singapore became independent, it also swiftly established its first diplomatic missions: in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and New York City. Today, the city-state maintains over 50 overseas missions.
