MDES ENGINEERING COURSE SEES FIRST BATCH OF GRADUATES

To better equip engineers under the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) Military Domain Experts Scheme (MDES), a new course, known as the Intermediate Domain Systems Course (IDSC), was introduced in August this year.

The course aims to prepare MDES engineers for Military Expert (ME) 5-grade appointments, and is a pre-requisite for engineers holding the ME4 rank to be promoted to ME5. As this is a new course, MDES engineers who were recently promoted to ME5 will also go through the IDSC.

The course, which spanned five weeks from 6 Aug, covered modules including Systems Engineering and Management, Operations and Support, Operational Logistics, Systems Safety Engineering, and Integrated Logistics Support. Select modules, such as Systems Engineering and Systems Safety, were also attended by Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) engineers. This is to promote networking and sharing of ideas between the SAF and its strategic defence partners.

On 11 Sep, the pioneer batch of graduates, comprising 20 MDES engineers from the Army, Navy and Air Force, received their certificates of achievement at the course closing ceremony.

At the event held at Defence Technology Tower B, Chief of Staff - General Staff Brigadier-General Tung Yui Fai, who was the guest of honour, congratulated the graduates, and reminded them of the importance of developing themselves professionally through route of advancement courses such as the IDSC.

"As military experts, I hope you will continue to be active contributors who understand the SAF's critical needs, solve difficult engineering problems and make the SAF more effective," he added.

Speaking to cyberpioneer after the closing ceremony, participant ME5 Muthiah Ampigapathi, Command Chief Warrant Officer at Headquarters Air Combat Command, said: "I find the IDSC to be a very enriching experience. The content of the course was relevant and useful in equipping me to meet increasingly complex job challenges as I take on higher appointments."

ME4 Michael Chan, a Squadron Marine Engineer in the Navy's 191 Squadron, said: "At this level in our MDES career, we are getting more involved in new acquisition and upgrading projects, so this course prepares us to manage such projects better."

ME5 Lim Huat Jen, who heads the Logistics System Audit Section in Headquarters Combat Service Support Command in the Army, appreciated how the course allowed him to interact with participants from the other Services and from DSTA.

"Besides getting to know about their engineering capabilities, we also shared best practices, which helped us to learn from one another to improve the way we work," he said.

The IDSC, which is offered by the DSTA Academy to train senior MDES engineers, will be conducted twice a year, in January and August.