Mr Soh Kong Pheng
Chief Executive
Defence Science & Technology Agency
Singapore

Defence forces world-wide are undergoing force transformation, capitalising on the potential of new technologies, to meet a more complex security environment and a wider spectrum of operations. These present new challenges for defence procurement agencies.

The Singapore Armed Forces is also transforming itself into the Third Generation SAF.  A feature of this transformation is for a tightly integrated and networked force.  Experimentation and spiral development are increasingly becoming the acquisition strategies to develop transformational capabilities. As the procurement agency and technology management arm for the SAF, DSTA has the role of supporting the SAF in its transformation.

Mr Soh will elaborate on these procurement challenges facing DSTA as we evolve from a Smart Buyer and User of defence capability into one poised and ready to capitalise and meet the demands of a transforming Third Generation SAF.

Mr. Lee Chung-won
Director General, Defense Industry Promotion,
Defense Acquisition Program Administration, South Korea

An Introduction to the Korean Defense Industry and Defense Acquisition Program Administration

Mr Lee Chung-won will introduce the Korean defense industry and Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).  His presentation will cover the brief history of the Korean defense industry and force improvement programs since the Korean War including the Korean defense acquisition procedures and the development status of major weapon systems. Mr Lee will also provide an introduction of the main functions, organization and roles of DAPA which were established in January 2006.

Mr. Denis Ranque
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thales, France

Industry's Support For Military Forces

Globalisation of information, standards, products, business processes, capital, labour, raw materials has gathered pace over the last ten years and has had generally beneficial results, including fundamental shifts in world economic activity. Globalisation of security risks and threats is the other side of the coin. Global security will be the key challenge of the 21st century.

Our security institutions have not yet adapted to the new strategic environment in which the main threats come from global rather than national challenges (terrorism, cyber security, energy security, competition for resources, global warming, large-scale population flows, religious and ethnic confrontation). Governments cannot address these challenges on their own. Industry is able to respond multinationally but is constrained by lack of consensus and cooperation between customer states and international organisations.

The key need is to prepare comprehensive crisis management capabilities, recognising that we cannot predict how threats will materialise. Governments must be more flexible, more network-centric. We must invest in security-related technology and ensure that breakthroughs can be efficiently and safely harnessed worldwide. Technology will not determine our future security but we must master its potential benefits and stay at the leading edge of scientific advancement.

Thales has identified global security as the main focus of its future growth. Through our multi-domestic approach and emphasis on dual-technology, we are investing in security related R&T and global standardisation efforts. We wish to strengthen our long term partnership in these activities with key governments, including Singapore.

Mr. Wee Siew Kim
President, Defence Business and
Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Aerospace & Marine)
Singapore Technologies Engineering, Singapore

Mr Wee Siew Kim would be sharing on how ST Engineering can continue to be a strategic defence partner as it grows both its defence and commercial businesses globally across the various sectors in aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine.  With wider technological skills, resources, capabilities, R&D, ST Engineering is better place to offer our defence customers more innovative products and services, greater cost efficiencies, and most importantly a vibrant pool of engineering people ready to challenge the paradigms of the future battlefields.

Mr. Tony Edwards
Visiting Professor
Defence College of Science and Technology (Cranfield University) , United Kingdom

The pace of Force Transformation is gathering momentum and so the inaugural International Defence Procurement Conference is being staged at a timely moment.  There are so many critical issues in Defence Procurement which necessitate even more complex analysis and resolution.

Defence Procurement represents the essential link between Foreign, Defence, Industrial and  Technology Policies and the Armed Forces.  Leaders in procurement must make the tough decisions that trade-off between capability in depth and breadth, interoperability and technology with cost effectiveness, where the cost inevitably escalates faster than any consumer index.

At the strategic level, defence procurement leaders must play their part in helping governments to develop the appropriate relationships between allies. Would the relationships be enhanced by formal memoranda of understanding between governments at the procurement level and how is cost effectiveness ensured when conventional competition is increasingly difficult to orchestrate?

The Conference and the opportunity for discussion provide the ideal environment for exploring these vital issues.