The Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the United States (US) Department of Defense (DoD) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Defence Innovation Cooperation on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2024 (SLD24). The MOU was signed by Mr. Tan Peng Yam, MINDEF's Chief Defence Scientist and Mr. Douglas A. Beck, US Director of the Defense Innovation Unit and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, and witnessed by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

The Defence Innovation MOU enhances bilateral cooperation in the adoption of commercial dual-use and emerging technologies. The MOU allows both defence establishments to identify and leverage dual-use technology opportunities and ecosystems to solve operational challenges for both militaries. Arising from this MOU, both sides will collaborate to develop solutions to address contemporary security challenges, and have identified and agreed on the following priority collaboration areas – maritime security and counter-uncrewed aircraft systems.

The US DoD is represented by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which leads the adoption of dual-use commercial technologies to solve warfighter problems for strategic impact at speed and scale. MINDEF is represented by the Future Systems and Technology Directorate (FSTD), which is responsible for the master-planning and managing the research and development requirements of MINDEF/SAF.

The signing of the Defence Innovation MOU demonstrates the close, strong, and mutually beneficial partnership between Singapore and the United States. It builds on MINDEF's and the US DoD's longstanding defence technology cooperation under the ambit of the bilateral Defence Cooperation Committee, which was launched in 2000 to provide a framework for discussion and cooperation on defence acquisition, technology, and logistics. It is also in line with our 2005 Strategic Framework Agreement and Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), as well as the 2015 Enhanced DCA, where both countries agreed to cooperate in new, advanced, and niche areas, and further defence cooperation in existing military, policy, strategic, technology, and non-conventional security spheres.