DSO National Laboratories (DSO) is a national defence research and development organisation in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

developing technological solutions for defence and national security. Founded as the Electronics Test Centre (ETC), it was established in 1972 by then-Minister for Defence

Goh Keng Swee Goh Keng Swee (born Robert Goh Keng Swee; 6 October 1918 – 14 May 2010) was a Singaporean statesman and economist who served as the second Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1973 and 1985. Goh is widely recognised as one of the fou ...

, to conduct research on future warfare. It was later renamed to the Defence Science Organisation (DSO) in 1977. Upon its incorporation as a not-for-profit company in 1997, it was renamed as DSO National Laboratories. Today, much of the work done by DSO has gone into Singapore's military, as well as into agencies responsible for homeland security. It has currently more than 1,600 research scientists and engineers.

History

Early history and secrecy (1972 - 1988)

In 1972, Dr Goh Keng Swee picked three newly graduated engineers to study Electronic Warfare, forming the Electronics Test Centre (ETC) to develop defence technologies for Singapore. In 1977, the ETC was renamed and formally established as the Defence Science Organisation (DSO) with 50 engineers. The

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

later formed the Defence Technology Group (DTG) that united the technology and logistics groups in the Ministry of Defence with DSO, establishing DSO as the centre of Research and Development for the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A component of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore), Ministry of D ...

Later history, assisting in SARS operations (1989 – 2010)

In 1989, the existence of DSO was publicly acknowledged for the first time. In a move to embrace the best practices in industry, DSO corporatized and renamed itself as DSO National Laboratories in 1997. The organisation further expanded to Science Park and Marina Hill. In 2003, DSO provided support during the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, providing research and diagnostic support for clinical samples and aiding in the modeling of SARS epidemiology.

Recent history (2011 – Present)

DSO launched TeLEOS-1 into space in 2015, Singapore's first commercial near

earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

. Having grown to 1,500 engineers in 2017, DSO moved into its new home at Science Park Drive and is now the largest defence research and development organisation in Singapore with research domains across land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace.

External links

References

{{Authority control Military intelligence agencies Military of Singapore