Singapore Army Pushes Drone Warfare Forward with “Mothership” UAV Trial at Exercise Wallaby 2025
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The Singapore Armed Forces tested a new generation of unmanned systems during Exercise Wallaby 2025 in Australia, including a heavy-lift drone that launches smaller micro-UAVs mid-flight. The trials mark a major shift toward man-machine teaming and AI-enabled warfare concepts that could define Singapore’s next phase of defense modernization.
Held annually in Australia’s vast Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Exercise Wallaby stands as the Singapore Armed Forces’ largest and most complex overseas exercise. More than a proving ground, it has become a laboratory for emerging war-fighting concepts where Singapore’s Army, Air Force, and Defence Technology Community (DTC) fuse technology with doctrine under real operational stress. In its 35th edition, Exercise Wallaby 2025 shifted focus to unmanned systems and man–machine teaming, with a landmark trial of drone “motherships” designed to revolutionize how the SAF fights in the dense urban terrain it is destined to defend. On Oct. 27, 2025, the Singapore Army used this year’s Exercise Wallaby to field-test the DefendTex D155 unmanned aerial vehicle, a heavy-lift drone acting as a “mother ship” for multiple Drone 40 micro-UAVs. This experiment forms part of a broader push to operationalize low-cost, networked unmanned systems capable of performing reconnaissance, precision strike, and communications relay tasks under a single control node. The trials highlight the SAF’s partnership with the Defense Technology Community, which plays a critical role in accelerating prototype-to-field integration by embedding engineers alongside soldiers during live exercises.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The Australian-made DefendTex D155 heavy-lift drone acts as a “mothership” for multiple Drone 40 micro-UAVs, carrying up to 13 kg of payload for about 90 minutes and deploying reconnaissance or strike drones mid-air to extend battlefield reach (Picture source: Singapore Ministry of Defense).
Singapore’s defense posture is unlike that of any other nation. With no strategic depth, its borders mere kilometers from vital infrastructure and dense civilian areas, any conflict would unfold inside the city itself. The SAF therefore trains and equips for speed, precision, and survivability within constrained urban space. Its doctrine emphasizes fast decision cycles and systems that can deploy and operate within minutes. Swarming drones, operating from compact bases and supported by edge computing, fit perfectly into this tactical ecosystem, offering eyes and firepower exactly where the Army needs them most.
The centerpiece of the trial, the DefendTex Drone 155, is a modular heavy-lift multirotor developed in Australia. The platform can carry payloads up to 13 kilograms with a maximum takeoff weight of 25 kilograms, achieving flight endurance of roughly 90 minutes and a control range of about 20 kilometers, extendable to 60 kilometers depending on mission profile. Onboard processing power is provided by an Nvidia Jetson module, enabling autonomy, navigation, and AI-assisted targeting. The D155 can transport ISR sensors, electronic warfare payloads, laser designators, or loitering munitions, and can deploy up to ten DefendTex Drone 40s mid-flight through a launcher pod system, effectively acting as a flying arsenal.
The smaller Drone 40s, shaped like 40 mm grenades, can be fired from standard launchers or hand-deployed, then unfold into miniature quadcopters. Each carries a modular payload: electro-optical or infrared cameras for surveillance, jammers, laser pointers, or kinetic warheads for anti-armor or area effects. These micro-UAVs can operate individually or as coordinated swarms, allowing a single operator to control dozens at once through a shared data link. Combined, the D155 and its Drone 40s form a layered unmanned strike package capable of scouting, jamming, and striking with high precision at minimal cost.
Exercise Wallaby also demonstrated how these drones connect into Singapore’s evolving digital command architecture. Trials included 5G aerial communications nodes mounted on unmanned aircraft to extend control and data transmission over large areas. The SAF and DTC tested “one-to-many” drone operations and “AI at the edge” software, enabling autonomous classification of battlefield objects and real-time 3D mapping. This allowed operators to visualize the terrain through a live digital twin of the battlefield, integrating inputs from ground robots, unmanned logistics vehicles, and counter-UAS sensors into a single command post.
These advances reflect a decisive evolution in Singapore’s defense concept. By distributing intelligence, surveillance, and strike capability among small autonomous systems, the SAF reduces its dependence on large platforms while increasing resilience against electronic warfare and missile strikes. In an urban environment, D155 motherships could hover above rooftops to deploy Drone 40 scouts through tight alleyways, designate enemy positions, or deliver synchronized precision strikes. Combined with real-time data fusion, the SAF can compress its detect–decide–deliver loop to mere seconds, crucial for survival in any high-intensity fight on home soil.
Exercise Wallaby’s vast Australian training space, five times the size of Singapore, remains indispensable to this process. The 2025 iteration involves more than 5,000 personnel, over 500 platforms, and joint live-fire operations integrating HIMARS, F-16s, AH-64Ds, and unmanned aerial vehicles. This environment allows full-scale integration of new technologies, validation of man–machine teaming concepts, and rapid feedback between soldiers and developers. Each trial feeds directly into the SAF’s modernization roadmap, supporting its “Army 2040” vision of a connected, data-driven, and highly adaptive force.
For Singapore, the lesson from Exercise Wallaby 2025 is clear: in a nation where defense must begin at the city’s edge, dominance will come from precision, agility, and intelligent networks rather than mass. Swarming drones like the D155 and Drone 40, combined with AI-enabled logistics and edge computing, are not just experimental, they are foundational to how Singapore intends to fight and win in the battlespace of the future.
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The Singapore Armed Forces tested a new generation of unmanned systems during Exercise Wallaby 2025 in Australia, including a heavy-lift drone that launches smaller micro-UAVs mid-flight. The trials mark a major shift toward man-machine teaming and AI-enabled warfare concepts that could define Singapore’s next phase of defense modernization.
Held annually in Australia’s vast Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Exercise Wallaby stands as the Singapore Armed Forces’ largest and most complex overseas exercise. More than a proving ground, it has become a laboratory for emerging war-fighting concepts where Singapore’s Army, Air Force, and Defence Technology Community (DTC) fuse technology with doctrine under real operational stress. In its 35th edition, Exercise Wallaby 2025 shifted focus to unmanned systems and man–machine teaming, with a landmark trial of drone “motherships” designed to revolutionize how the SAF fights in the dense urban terrain it is destined to defend. On Oct. 27, 2025, the Singapore Army used this year’s Exercise Wallaby to field-test the DefendTex D155 unmanned aerial vehicle, a heavy-lift drone acting as a “mother ship” for multiple Drone 40 micro-UAVs. This experiment forms part of a broader push to operationalize low-cost, networked unmanned systems capable of performing reconnaissance, precision strike, and communications relay tasks under a single control node. The trials highlight the SAF’s partnership with the Defense Technology Community, which plays a critical role in accelerating prototype-to-field integration by embedding engineers alongside soldiers during live exercises.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
The Australian-made DefendTex D155 heavy-lift drone acts as a “mothership” for multiple Drone 40 micro-UAVs, carrying up to 13 kg of payload for about 90 minutes and deploying reconnaissance or strike drones mid-air to extend battlefield reach (Picture source: Singapore Ministry of Defense).
Singapore’s defense posture is unlike that of any other nation. With no strategic depth, its borders mere kilometers from vital infrastructure and dense civilian areas, any conflict would unfold inside the city itself. The SAF therefore trains and equips for speed, precision, and survivability within constrained urban space. Its doctrine emphasizes fast decision cycles and systems that can deploy and operate within minutes. Swarming drones, operating from compact bases and supported by edge computing, fit perfectly into this tactical ecosystem, offering eyes and firepower exactly where the Army needs them most.
The centerpiece of the trial, the DefendTex Drone 155, is a modular heavy-lift multirotor developed in Australia. The platform can carry payloads up to 13 kilograms with a maximum takeoff weight of 25 kilograms, achieving flight endurance of roughly 90 minutes and a control range of about 20 kilometers, extendable to 60 kilometers depending on mission profile. Onboard processing power is provided by an Nvidia Jetson module, enabling autonomy, navigation, and AI-assisted targeting. The D155 can transport ISR sensors, electronic warfare payloads, laser designators, or loitering munitions, and can deploy up to ten DefendTex Drone 40s mid-flight through a launcher pod system, effectively acting as a flying arsenal.
The smaller Drone 40s, shaped like 40 mm grenades, can be fired from standard launchers or hand-deployed, then unfold into miniature quadcopters. Each carries a modular payload: electro-optical or infrared cameras for surveillance, jammers, laser pointers, or kinetic warheads for anti-armor or area effects. These micro-UAVs can operate individually or as coordinated swarms, allowing a single operator to control dozens at once through a shared data link. Combined, the D155 and its Drone 40s form a layered unmanned strike package capable of scouting, jamming, and striking with high precision at minimal cost.
Exercise Wallaby also demonstrated how these drones connect into Singapore’s evolving digital command architecture. Trials included 5G aerial communications nodes mounted on unmanned aircraft to extend control and data transmission over large areas. The SAF and DTC tested “one-to-many” drone operations and “AI at the edge” software, enabling autonomous classification of battlefield objects and real-time 3D mapping. This allowed operators to visualize the terrain through a live digital twin of the battlefield, integrating inputs from ground robots, unmanned logistics vehicles, and counter-UAS sensors into a single command post.
These advances reflect a decisive evolution in Singapore’s defense concept. By distributing intelligence, surveillance, and strike capability among small autonomous systems, the SAF reduces its dependence on large platforms while increasing resilience against electronic warfare and missile strikes. In an urban environment, D155 motherships could hover above rooftops to deploy Drone 40 scouts through tight alleyways, designate enemy positions, or deliver synchronized precision strikes. Combined with real-time data fusion, the SAF can compress its detect–decide–deliver loop to mere seconds, crucial for survival in any high-intensity fight on home soil.
Exercise Wallaby’s vast Australian training space, five times the size of Singapore, remains indispensable to this process. The 2025 iteration involves more than 5,000 personnel, over 500 platforms, and joint live-fire operations integrating HIMARS, F-16s, AH-64Ds, and unmanned aerial vehicles. This environment allows full-scale integration of new technologies, validation of man–machine teaming concepts, and rapid feedback between soldiers and developers. Each trial feeds directly into the SAF’s modernization roadmap, supporting its “Army 2040” vision of a connected, data-driven, and highly adaptive force.
For Singapore, the lesson from Exercise Wallaby 2025 is clear: in a nation where defense must begin at the city’s edge, dominance will come from precision, agility, and intelligent networks rather than mass. Swarming drones like the D155 and Drone 40, combined with AI-enabled logistics and edge computing, are not just experimental, they are foundational to how Singapore intends to fight and win in the battlespace of the future.
