Maintenance & Engineering Support

Maintenance & Engineering Support (MES) Formation started formerly as HQ Maintenance in 1984 to command the Army maintenance battalions and the maintenance training school. In 1994, it expanded its functions to cover engineering support by taking in the Maintenance Management Group of G4-Army. With that, it changed her name to MES for short. MES Formation is the maintenance and engineering authority and specialist to the Army. It plays an advisory role to Chief of Army on matters that concern the engineering capabilities of Army weapon systems and the Army’s maintenance capabilities to sustain different operational scenarios. Chief Maintenance & Engineering Officer (CMEO), commands the MES Formation.

Maintenance Services

MES Formation provides the following services: Maintenance services, maintenance and maintenance training.

Maintenance Services

Our main function in this service include developing an optimal maintenance operational doctrine and concept to ensure high equipment availability. By maintaining the equipment and to act in the interest of the Army to ensure the contractual performance of the suppliers (maintenance service contractors).

Maintenance

The largest proportion of our staff is engaged in providing this service. Our main function in this service includes: to develop an optimal maintenance operational doctrine and concept to ensure high equipment availability, to maintain the equipment of customers’ units and to act in the interest of Army to ensure the contractual performance of the suppliers (maintenance service contractors).

Maintenance Training

Training people to become competent technicians and operator-maintainers (OMers) is another important facet of our core business. While Ordnance Engineering Training Institute (OETI) trains the technicians and OMers in the maintenance knowledge and skills mainly in a peacetime workshop environment, they are also trained to perform field repairs in military exercises and training. MES formulates the maintenance training doctrine and concept and plans the maintenance manpower requirements to keep maintenance activities responsive and effective in wartime. In addition, it also conducts the engineering specialist training for Army Engineers and Technicians.

Our vocation

Army Technicians

Maintain, diagnose and repair Army Engineering Automotive, Armament or Electronic systems, in accordance to the maintenance allocation chart.

Army Engineer (ME1 to ME2)

Army Engineer (ME1 to ME2) will apply his/her skills to sustain the Army’s sophisticated system. Perform technical analysis and repair on our system, the Army Asst Engineer’s professional and diagnostic skills play an important part in sustaining the Army systems effectiveness.

Army Engineer (ME3 and above)

Army Engineer (ME3 and above) will make full use of his/her engineering knowledge to deliver cost-effective engineering solutions for the Army’s system. He/she is also the brain behind the operational readiness of Army’s vast array of systems.

Military equipment

Heavy Maintenance Task Vehicle (HMTV)

Light Maintenance Task Vehicle (LMTV)

5 Ton Maintenance Task Vehicle (5T MTV)

MB 2636A Recovery Truck

Specifications

History

Maintenance and Engineering Support Formation is the Machine Master of our Army. In 1994, HQ Maintenance and Engineering Support (HQ MES) was inaugurated, following the reorganisation of Army Logistics Command (ALCOM) and G4 Army, to provide synergistic integration of maintenance and engineering support to ensure high operational equipment readiness for our Army/SAF, at sustainable budget and manpower resources. We ensure the system safety for all Land platforms in our Army/SAF.

MES has participated in various Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Peace Support Operations (PSO). Notably, from the wrecker recovery support for the collapse of Hotel New World (in 1986), HADR for Indian Ocean Tsunami (in 2004) to the PSO in Afghanistan (in 2010), where our Weapon Locating Radar (WLR) Engineering Team provided field innovation to sustain the radar under harsh environmental conditions and operational tempo, and was awarded the Defence Technology Prize 2011 Team Engineering Award; each deployment demonstrated our operational relevance to the wide spectrum of SAF operations.

MES believes in perpetuating good quality systems would enable us to build up our engineering capabilities. MES was the first Army Formation to be presented ISO 9002 certification (in 1995), People Developer Standard (in 2001), ISO 14000 (in 2002), ISO 18000 (in 2005). In 2017, MES was the first Army Formation to be awarded the Integrated Business Excellence Standards (Singapore Quality Class Star, People Developer, Innovation-Class and Service-Class).

In 2010, MES shifted from Ayer Rajah Camp to Kranji Camp. It coincided with the inauguration of the MDES scheme and signalled a new phase of MES transformation. With the introduction of MDES, MES will be raising its maintenance and engineering support to an even higher level of professionalism and excellence. MDES will enable our people to deepen our engineering expertise to maintain our highly sophisticated fighting platforms and provide innovative engineering solutions.

MES harnesses the potential of data to solve technical issues, reap productivity gains and transform processes. It does so through our Enterprise System and uses simulation tools, like the Optimised Decisions in Networks (ODIN), to develop maintenance optimisation solutions. ODIN was a MES-DSTA (Defence Science and Technology Agency) collaboration that won Defence Technology Prize 2013 Team Engineering Award. Moving forward, MES is pursuing Data Science implementations to enable the shift from current maintenance regimes towards a more cost effective condition-based maintenance.

MES also creates capacity through collaborations. The integrated Forward Maintenance Hub at Sungei Gedong (iFMH@SGC), launched in 2017, is the manifestation of the strategic collaboration between Maintenance and Engineering Support (MES) and ST Kinetics (STK) with the aim to holistically strengthen the overall maintenance support for our tracked vehicles. It involves three key areas: namely the Forward Technical Support Office, the Forward Spares Support Warehouse and the Forward Depot-Level Maintenance Workshop.

Innovation is in our DNA. MES will continue to exploit new technological frontiers to support our endeavours. MES is the lead agency to drive Additive Manufacturing (or commonly known as 3D Printing) for MINDEF/SAF. In 2017, MES signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with National Additive Manufacturing and Innovation Cluster (NAMIC) to spearhead 3D printing for military applications. In the same year, MES had launched our innovation space to promote ground-up innovations for the Army. The ARC is also an acronym for Ayer Rajah Camp; it reminds us of our history and heritage - our purpose, people, shared values and struggles. It epitomises the passion, ingenuity and readiness in our continuous pursuit of excellence. As an emblem of life and growth, it also reflects a formation that is dynamic and forward looking. This prototyping and testing Space allows innovators to develop the innovations and test them by rapid prototyping using additive or subtractive manufacturing. The ARC also enables electronic testing, failure analysis and data analytics to be performed.

As our Army continues to leverage on technology, the roles and opportunities of Army Engineers will continue to expand. It is necessary that our Army Engineers continue to deepen our engineering expertise and innovate so as to be future-ready to deliver value for our next generation Army.

Engineering our Army's edge

You will employ sophisticated diagnostic tools and repair techniques to ensure that our defence systems are in peak condition. You will make full use of information technology and engineering knowledge to deliver cost-effective solutions. You will also make sure that Our Army's assets and equipment are promptly repaired. In Maintenance and Engineering Support, you are the brains behind the operationally readiness of Our Army, and the critical link empowering our capabilities.