ST Engineering

[brattzz]

ok... just a form of deterrence i guess...
To operate such a fleet will need lots of human resources, which sg does not have!

[sgd]

Why would singapore need an assault capability? Retake back Christmas Island?

Precisely the question and please hold that thought. When we bought the 6 french lafayette frigates there was a lot of talk that it would replace the 12 fearless class patrol boats we operated since the 90's. But since then seems SAF have announced that launch of the new Independence class Littoral ships that is going to replace the fearless class.

So what is the french lafayette for? The range of these ships is stated as 10,000 nautical miles do we have territory several thousand miles long?
What about the 2 new German type 218sg submarines we getting from HDW, experts see it's similarities to the type 214 which has a range of 7000 nm

So we have 6 frigates and 2 submarines both platforms with operating range in excess 5000 nautical miles which we have no such territory 

Could it be and this is speculation they are the escorts? 

[sgd]

ok... just a form of deterrence i guess...
To operate such a fleet will need lots of human resources, which sg does not have!

It used to be compared to the American aircraft carrier an island fortress with about 5 thousand personnel needed to operate.

Not anymore. Go look at the really big new UK carriers the Queen Elizabeth class with new technology automation they manage to reduce that to less than a fifth of the crew or 679 personnel. And we are not even going for that size, what am talking about is a much smaller carrier.



It used to be we had 47 A-4 skyhawks and a few F16, the skyhawks were the backbone aircraft and the F-16 based overseas.

since then we decom the A4 and the F16 fleet has grown 70 (now 63 after selling a few to thailand)

I think the F-16 will be the new backbone and we will eventually get 1 squardron or 30 x F-35 either based overseas or based "at sea" 

[slowandsteady]

Some recent changes to engineering pay structure, which would likely impact ST Engineering heavily:

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/hi...-engineers
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sing...92082.html

Putting this into perspective, if the 20% government engineer pay rise (note that this is magnified by civil service hiring an additional 1,000 engineers this year) is translated into ST Eng personnel cost increase of 20%, 2015 numbers will be affect as below:

Profit from operations:           $510,271,000
Increase in personnel cost:   - $363,809,000
Adjusted profit from ops:       $146,462,000
Reduction in profit:                -71%

For a long time we have seen an over-production of engineers from local universities, competition from FT engineers, and hence low engineering salary, which result in a leak of engineers into other sectors like banking. This is structurally inefficient (human resource training not matching with job scope), which the government seems to want to change. I believe going forward the trend should reverse (trust the government to achieve their goals, when they do such drastic adjustments). It'll be interesting to see how companies like ST Eng who have been exploiting low engineering pay for so long react and adjust. Can they massively increase the productivity of their engineers? Can they prevent their best engineers from jumping ship to the civil service? Can they match the government's salary hike?

[palantir]

Some recent changes to engineering pay structure, which would likely impact ST Engineering heavily:

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/hi...-engineers
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sing...92082.html

Putting this into perspective, if the 20% government engineer pay rise (note that this is magnified by civil service hiring an additional 1,000 engineers this year) is translated into ST Eng personnel cost increase of 20%, 2015 numbers will be affect as below:

Profit from operations:           $510,271,000
Increase in personnel cost:   - $363,809,000
Adjusted profit from ops:       $146,462,000
Reduction in profit:                -71%

For a long time we have seen an over-production of engineers from local universities, competition from FT engineers, and hence low engineering salary, which result in a leak of engineers into other sectors like banking. This is structurally inefficient (human resource training not matching with job scope), which the government seems to want to change. I believe going forward the trend should reverse (trust the government to achieve their goals, when they do such drastic adjustments). It'll be interesting to see how companies like ST Eng who have been exploiting low engineering pay for so long react and adjust. Can they massively increase the productivity of their engineers? Can they prevent their best engineers from jumping ship to the civil service? Can they match the government's salary hike?

ST probably will increase their manpower charging rate

[BlueKelah]

wah surge in price today and kena SGX query, anyone following this blue chip?

[sgd]

Perhaps earlier news can shed some light what's going on.

--- ng eng hen speech on evaluating 'ships larger than lst' that can carry more helicopters cargo in the rough seas of indian ocean. Also within a decade more almost double wheeled and track vehicles. 

http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/press_r...yv0RYR94fc

For our Navy, the two Type-218SG submarines will be in operation, together with our two Archer-class submarines. Our frigates, operating with their Sikorsky S-70B Naval Helicopters, and our new Littoral Mission Vessels, will form the mainstay of our surface fleet. The Naval Helicopters have proved to be effective and versatile for a wide range of missions. When we deployed them in the Gulf of Aden, it validated their usefulness in counter-piracy missions and the SAF has therefore decided to acquire two more Naval Helicopters. The SAF has also found the multi-role Landing Ship Tank to be an effective workhorse in our relief efforts, so whether it was to the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Northern Arabian Gulf, whether it was to relief efforts elsewhere, they were found to be effective. But if there was one limitation, it was in their carrying capacity. We are therefore studying carefully the need for larger LSTs that can carry more helicopters as well as more cargo.

The Army in 2030 will certainly be more mobile. In the next 10 years, the number of units that will operate on wheel or track platforms will almost double. So whatever we have right now, in 10 years they will double in numbers and this will create more mobile units. This includes more Terrex Infantry Fighting Vehicles, to deal with threats in urban environments. The Terrexes will be linked to UAVs to see further, better and act more decisively. The Bionixes will also be upgraded and this will be operationalised by 2030.


lets cross our fingers   

That was announced in 2014. today is already mid 2016 looking at the timeline if you understand operational requirements and most of you already do if need to double you need time to build it, time to deploy and a few years to train units to before they can turn operational so yeah they would probably announce something soon.



All of you want it am talking about the carriers even every single one that opposes it openly but secretly also want singapore to be strong. 


the common things with singapore I find in australia turkey apart from being in the F-35 fighter program is that they own and operate leopard tanks same with singapore. And if you read wikipedia the san juan helicopter carrier that they both operate is able to accomodate leopard tanks in it's vehicle bay. Other thing is the san juan has are landing spots for chinook ch47d helicopters which we also happen to operate.

but If they follow the trend buy refurbish second hand equipment what's available for sale at the moment.

UK retired HMS illustrious (last I read either plan to refurbish as a cruise ship or to be available to 'friendly commonwealth countries'
US retiring Tarawa class ships

[BlueKelah]

thanks sgd, i thought it might be the disposal of some subsidiary which ST Eng said wont impact NAV or earnings..

looks like good share to buy on dips with strong gov support for orders

[opmi]

Heard that Leopard tanks cannot make it after STE tries to modify it.

German Tech + STE Tech < Original German Tech hahaha...

[sgd]

Heard that Leopard tanks cannot make it after STE tries to modify it.  

German Tech + STE Tech  < Original German Tech hahaha...

All technical issues can be iron teeth given enough time. 

Our amx13 when we first got them I heard for like $1 each were little more than burned out junk metal heaps with holes in them, attrition losses in the israeli wars. We totally re-built and operated 350 of those.

and now I hear filipinos after getting pushed about by china are now shopping for tanks ships and new equipment rumor has they could be eyeing the sm1's if they are available.