A Navy that is agile and actively adopting data and AI

Singapore is a maritime nation with its prosperity inextricably linked to the sea.

Its maritime industry contributes ~7 per cent to its Gross Domestic Product and is one of the world’s busiest trans-shipment hubs with an average of 140,000 vessels calling into Singapore annually.

At the centre of this prosperity is the Singapore Strait, the waterbody that connects Singapore to the world.

Safeguarding access to the Singapore Strait is a core maritime security concern of the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), says RSN’s Head of the Naval Operations Department, Colonel Ooi Tjin-Kai.

COL Ooi functions as the Chief Operating Officer of the Navy, managing maritime security operations, operational policies, and technology transformation.

Speaking to GovInsider about the importance of keeping the strait secure, he notes that for Singapore, the free flow of shipping through these congested sea lanes underpins both national and regional economic stability.

A visible rise in sea robbery incidents, for example, could quickly erode shipowners’ and insurers’ confidence in the safety of the route, he adds.

Traditionally, the RSN has been tackling sea robbery in a largely “incident-centric” way, that counts occurrences and observes simple trends over time.

Things have now changed.

Data enables us to see and understand an even bigger picture

The Navy is shifting to a more sophisticated, data-driven approach that treats sea robbery as part of a wider ecosystem of social, economic, and environmental factors.

Using data and compute, it now analyses a broader set of indicators to anticipate and curb sea robbery incidents.

“Beyond obvious variables like seasonal weather patterns or routine fishing activity, [Navy] analysts are correlating trends such as changes in shipping flows, broader climate conditions that affect fish stocks, and the economic health of coastal communities that may be pushed toward illicit activity when livelihoods are strained,” says COL Ooi.

By aggregating and interpreting these non-traditional data points, the RSN is able to detect emerging risks earlier and work with other littoral states to pre-empt spikes in sea robbery, including by stepping up patrols when indicators point to heightened risk.

Using data to tackle what has been a common problem is just one facet of the way Singapore’s Navy is reinventing itself to incorporate more advanced analytics and autonomy in its functioning, says COL Ooi.

An organisation that has always designed itself to maximise its constraints

He notes that RSN has always had to do more with less. This emphasis on technological solutions is not new to the RSN.

A small population and manpower constraints mean the RSN cannot rely on sheer numbers (of sailors and ships) to secure its waters and vital sea lanes.

“Instead, we have long treated technology as a key enabler, pairing advanced systems with a highly educated workforce,” says COL Ooi.

The service is pushing itself into a new phase of modernisation, one in which data, autonomy and software-driven innovation are reshaping everything from maritime security to sailor training.

Over his long career, COL Ooi has seen the RSN move from early rule-based decision-making systems, such as indigenous combat management suites that could allocate weapon firing solutions in split seconds, to much more ambitious solutions centred around contextual sense-making and decision support.

Even as technology becomes more sophisticated, the fundamental purpose of leveraging technology – to magnify the potential of Singapore’s small but highly educated workforce – remains the same.

The tools and expectations have shifted, and with new streams of data and vastly greater compute power, the Navy is now rethinking not only how it fights, but also how fast it can change, says COL Ooi.

This data-centric approach is part of a larger effort to ensure adoption of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) at scale.

Getting governance and policy right to enable adoption

COL Ooi notes that to do this, it is essential for the RSN to get the governance and policy layer right.

This includes dynamically classifying data sensitivity, widening user access to appropriate datasets, and ensuring that compute is available to users across the organisation.

Real innovation in the RSN is coming not from the central headquarters alone, but also from empowering units and individuals to use AI tools on rich datasets to solve their own operational problems, COL Ooi says.

“By treating outcomes more like products, that fully exploit both data and digital tools, the Navy is pushing teams to embed analytics and AI into their work,” he adds.

He says this accelerates a shift from episodic, intuition-based decisions to continuous, data-driven operational insight.

Getting governance and policy right also “provide the enablers for the behavioural shifts that are needed across the organisation”.

COL Ooi recognises that “changes take time, and a big part is what our people are prepared to do differently, so then it falls to management to ensure we recognise and reward the teams that are prepared to take steps.”

Changing the way things are done

Networked infrastructure and AI-enabled autonomous systems are changing how naval operations are conducted.

For example, COL Ooi shares that while drone use in naval warfare is not new, what has changed is the level of autonomy these systems now possess, and the extent to which they can support sustained maritime operations.

The RSN began investing and employing unmanned systems in the early 2000s, with the first operational uses as part of Base Defence and as part of the Singapore’s contributions to Operation Blue Orchid from 2003 to 2008, where a USV was deployed as part of the RSN Task Group.

The early investment has given the Navy decades of experience in integrating autonomous systems into operations, understanding their potential and limits, and deciding what must be customised for the highly congested operating environment in the Singapore Strait.

Today, the RSN operates autonomous unmanned surface vessels that patrol the Singapore Strait.

These platforms can navigate and patrol independently, handling routine and continuous tasks while humans remain responsible for critical decision-making.

For a manpower-constrained organisation, this is a key force multiplier. It enables Singapore to sustain a strong and persistent operational presence without a proportional increase in personnel, COL Ooi adds.

Success is determined by the workforce

As the RSN accelerates its transformation into a more data and AI-savvy force, how this must change how it trains its sailors has become a central priority.

COL Ooi says the challenge is not simply teaching personnel to use new tools; it is helping them keep pace with the speed of technological change.

Naval careers are built on long but intensive training pipelines. Sailors must master life at sea, operating complex shipboard systems, and maintaining specialised equipment over the years.

Adding a fast-moving, “software-style” cycle of change on top of that traditional model inevitably creates tension, he notes.

Existing professional education and training systems have been designed for slower technology cycles.

They now need to be re-engineered so personnel can remain continuously upskilled, comfortable with rapid iteration, and ready to take on new digital responsibilities.

COL Ooi cites the example of traditional radio operators, who once handled voice calls, signal flags and lights; with their jobs becoming automated, they are being retrained as cyber and network engineers.

Their core mission remains communications, but the focus has shifted to managing and securing digital networks. These sailors are now responsible for onboard connectivity and the systems that keep ships linked to wider command-and-control networks, he adds.

Singapore’s well-educated workforce makes the adoption of new technology relatively smooth, but COL Ooi says the harder shift is cultural.

Instead of waiting for formal courses before taking on new tasks, personnel will increasingly need to seek out digital skills proactively.

In his view, the role of the leadership would be to stay future‑aware and agile, define clear digital and data-driven “product” outcomes for units, and carefully manage the pace of transformation so it feels fair and achievable.

This is especially for the “middle group” of the workforce that is more comfortable with the existing way of doing things.

Beyond the operational imperative, the RSN also recognizes that it is competing with many other organisations for recruitment and retention.

“If young Singaporeans do not see the RSN as a progressive and exciting place to work, which today is very much intertwined with a company’s readiness to use data and AI, we will not be able to attract people to join us.

"So the need for the RSN to be agile and adopt AI is not just to keep us ahead of threats, but also to make sure people want to be part of the Navy and serve Singapore.”