Singapore's aerospace industry looking to fill 2,500 jobs in the next three to five years

SINGAPORE: Aerospace companies are expected to hire more than 2,500 employees in the next three to five years, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said on Sunday (Feb 18).

These jobs will include operators, technicians, and engineers, as well as corporate roles, EDB executive vice president Cindy Koh said in a press conference for the Singapore Airshow 2024.

Singapore is home to more than 130 aerospace companies, and the hiring will support the aerospace industry's strong recovery over the past three years, she added.

Last year, Singapore's aerospace output grew 16 per cent year-on-year.

In the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) segment in particular, Singapore's output recovery has outpaced global output recovery by a year.

Aerospace companies have already ramped up their hiring in the past two years, growing total aerospace employment by almost 3,000 jobs.

Since the last airshow in 2022, aerospace companies have made major commitments to invest more than S$750 million (US$556 million) in Singapore over the next three to five years.

These new projects span advanced manufacturing and MRO, innovation and sustainability, and some are set to be announced during the airshow next week.

NEW TERREX INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLE

ST Engineering on Sunday launched the latest version of its Terrex infantry fighting vehicle with a hybrid electric drive option.

The Terrex s5 is "designed to harness current and next-generation digital architectures", said Mr Chua Jin Kiat, chairman of ST Engineering's steering committee for its airshow display.

The platform is equipped with artificial intelligence, such as a "surveillance optical radar" that uses machine learning technology to detect and plot target locations and distances.

The hybrid electric version of the vehicle also enables more stealth operations and faster acceleration, among other features.

The global market for eight-wheeled armoured vehicles is "very competitive", Mr Chua acknowledged, but ST Engineering is eyeing Europe and the Middle East as potential markets for the Terrex s5.

"We are coming in play as a very high-end digitalised network product that can meet all your mission requirements, but not necessarily at the price that you think you would have to pay for something so smart," he said.

The Terrex s5 will be on display when the global technology, defence and engineering group returns to this year's biennial Singapore Airshow as the largest exhibitor.

Another innovation on display will be a 40mm low-velocity automatic grenade launcher, touted by ST Engineering as a "world's first". The launcher is mainly intended for security rather than military use, such as riot control, said Mr Chua.

The company also provided an update on its conversion of Boeing 757 passenger planes for aerial firefighting, first announced at the 2022 Singapore Airshow. The passenger-to-tanker was previously estimated to enter service in 2024.

Conversion of the passenger plane is now expected to start in mid-2024, followed by testing and entry into service around late 2025 to early 2026, Mr Chua told reporters.

Commenting on the post-pandemic outlook, he said the recovery of air travel was "well documented" and that the aerospace industry is seeing "good business volume".

"Of course, in certain parts of the world, more countries are more conscious and aware of their own security needs. So there's a lot more conversation, a lot more inquiries about certain capabilities in various parts of the world."