Exercise Wallaby 2025: Singapore Army trials drones to address modern operational challenges

SHOALWATER BAY, Australia — In the midst of an ever-changing defence landscape, the Singapore Army faces various challenges while carrying out its operations.

To counter these obstacles, it is adopting the use of various unmanned systems — some of which are being trialled at Shoalwater Bay Training Area during Exercise Wallaby 2025.

Speaking to the media at the training area on Saturday (Oct 25), the exercise's Operational Field Trials Safety Lead Military Expert (ME) 5 Teo Liang Kai said that with the army increasingly operating in urban terrain, it encounters more blind spots.

Instead of risking soldiers' lives to check such places, the army sends a fleet of drones to map out the area and mark hotspots — which they can avoid or preemptively neutralise, ME5 Teo said.

He added that harnessing technology also allows the Army to do things faster and easier while covering bigger areas.

"We can...enhance our situational awareness — like using unmanned systems to (support) our army tanks or soldiers on the ground (and) see a bit further so that they can prepare for the threats ahead of them," said ME5 Teo.

Also present at Shoalwater Bay Training Area was Cai Jia Ling, Director of Capability Development for Land Systems at the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA).

Cai said that the new technology like unmanned systems has been used in the Russia-Ukraine war and other countries. 

She then pointed out that it is important for Singapore to look at the asymmetry between its defence systems and that of other nations, observing how an adversary could take advantage of such techniques.

"We need to make sure we keep up to date with the latest technology, I think it's inevitable," she said.

Up to 200 drones can be operated by 1 soldier

Both ME5 Teo and Cai also acknowledged the manpower crunch Singapore is facing — due to its declining birth rate —  is a challenge for the army, which the use of drones can help to ease.

Just one operator can use multiple drones to map out an area faster and more efficiently than traditional methods, ME5 Teo said.

The Low-Cost Unmanned Sense Strike Technology, for instance, allows for just one operator to control up to 200 drones at the same time.

On Saturday, a fleet of more than 50 Parrot Anafi drones was deployed to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions for the first time.

Similar trials during previous overseas military exercises had fewer drones within a fleet.

After taking off, these small drones hover in the sky to capture images of the surrounding area.

These pictures are then converted to a three-dimensional terrain map by the Tactical 3D Map Analysis Platform, which gives commanders a bird's-eye view of the surroundings.

This system allowed the Army and DSTA to map an area 25 times larger than last year within an hour during Exercise Wallaby 2025.

New systems tested for the first time

Another unmanned system trialled during the exercise was the new "mothership" drone.

This involves a "mother" drone, the DefendTex D155, carrying up to eight "baby" drones — or DefendTex D40— to a location before releasing them to conduct ISR and feed information to the command centre.

The D155 can travel much longer distances than the Parrot Anafi, making it ideal to transport multiple D40 drones to areas farther away from the command post.

Upon completing their tasks, these drones land at a safe location separately.

This is also the Singapore Army's first time flying six V15 mini unmanned aircraft systems simultaneously in various locations at Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

[[nid:722403]]

bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com