Mindef goes digital at inaugural event to encourage innovation

For naval servicemen, classroom lectures may soon be a thing of the past.

In their place will be a new mobile application called Warriors Of The Seas, a one-on-one game where players control naval warships to defeat their opponents in battle.

It was one of 22 projects on display on Monday and yesterday as part of the inaugural Mindef /SAF (Ministry of Defence/Singapore Armed Forces) Digital Innovation Day at RSS Singapura-Changi Naval Base.

The guest of honour for the event was Mr Heng Chee How, the Senior Minister of State for Defence.

The game was jointly developed by the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Lionfish Studios, and its creators hope younger generations of servicemen will enjoy it so much they will start training on their own.

Lionfish is a Singapore interactive digital media company.

The team leader, Captain Lee Guo Ping, 30, told The New Paper: "We hope to capitalise on the engaging nature of apps to help millennials conceptualise and retain information better.

"Ultimately, we aim to be able to replace lecture-based learning with an approach that places greater emphasis on self-discovery."

The game allows players to select actual craft used by the RSN including the Victory-class missile corvette, the Formidable-class frigate and the Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk helicopter.

Another difference between this game and similar apps on the market is that Warriors Of The Seas addresses the whole suite of naval warfare fundamentals, unlike the targeted approach taken by other developers.

CONCEPTS

These include concepts such as time-and-space calculations, analysing real-life combat scenarios and determining when to engage the enemy.

Capt Lee said: "Troops really enjoy the game because they can pit their skills against higher-ranking officers, so it allows them to learn from their superiors in a more informal manner."

While the game is now available only to RSN personnel, the team hopes it can be made available to the public.

Another project showcased was the Army Battlefield Instrumentation (BFI) Data Analytics Tool, a collaboration between the Army Training and Doctrine Command and the DSO National Laboratories.

It arranges massive amounts of information, exchanged during a mission, in a coherent manner.

This will help commanders make better sense of the data during decision-making.

Major David Choi, 38, who heads the group, said: "Commanders can use this tool between missions to quickly review areas where they've done well and identify what areas need further refinement."

The BFI tool can be used by all units that are directly involved in physical warfare, such as the infantry and armour formations.

Another project featured was the augmented reality (AR) glasses, which provide military engineers with step-by-step guidance on tackling system faults.

The team leader, Military Expert 6 Aw Chee Giap, 32, said: "Apart from reducing the time taken in fault diagnosis, it also allows live recordings of actual scenarios which can be used for training purposes."

Full article at http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/mindef-goes-digital-inaugural-event-encourage-innovation