LOGISTICIANS VITAL TO THIRD-GENERATION SAF

Seeking new and better ways to conduct operations, and developing effective and efficient systems and processes that would enable the SAF to raise, train, and sustain such a force were two main avenues in which the SAF attempted to push forward its transformation.

And these demands were met by the enabling power of a competent logistics team, said Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General (LG) Desmond Kuek.

Speaking at the d-Logistics Seminar 2007 on 13 Nov, LG Kuek simplified this with the words of Rear Admiral (RADM) Henry Eccles, a post-World War II logistician: "The essence of flexibility is in the mind of the commander, the substance of flexibility is in logistics."

In many ways then, the SAF's "integrated logistics capability, that fully exploits all dimensions of land, sea, and air" is one that very accurately reflects the flexible and intensely adaptable nature of the ONE SAF.

The d-Logistics Seminar is an annual event for logistics communities within and outside the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

It aims to facilitate a platform for sharing and discussion of developments, practices and achievements in the area of defence logistics.

Over 500 participants from MINDEF, the SAF, defence-related organisations and logistics institutions attend the seminar yearly.

Recent seminars have been based on the theme of logistics transformation, in line with the overall third-generation SAF theme, said Mr Quek Tong Boon, Deputy Secretary (Technology & Transformation).

With the new Enterprise System in place, said Mr Quek, the "logistics community can proudly claim to be among the first to have operationalised a slice of the ONE SAF".

He explained that the Enterprise System "integrated the SAF's logistics and logistics-related processes with information systems across the Services, across time and space to provide activity-based costing and aggregated information for better cost and logistics situation awareness."

The SAF, he added, could not survive without the support of the logistics community. A stark contrast to the "ugly stepchild" or metaphorical lizard's tail that logistics communities are seen as elsewhere, Mr Quek believes that the SAF cannot go into operations without logistics support.

"It is time for us to look at logistics as the jaws that anchor the teeth, move them and provide the power for the bite!" he said.