Singapore Orders Terrex S5 8x8 IFVs as Army’s Next-Generation Infantry Combat Vehicle.

ST Engineering said Singapore’s Ministry of Defence awarded a contract for next-generation Infantry Fighting Vehicles based on the Terrex s5 8x8 platform. The move reinforces Singapore’s push to modernise land forces using domestically designed systems tightly linked to digital command networks.

ST Engineering announced on 26 January 2026 that Singapore’s Ministry of Defence awarded its Land Systems business a contract in December 2025 to produce and supply the Republic’s next-generation Infantry Fighting Vehicles, with deliveries planned to begin progressively from 2028. According to the company, the vehicles will be based on the Terrex s5 8x8 platform and developed in close coordination with the Defence Science and Technology Agency, setting the foundation for a long-term capability roadmap rather than a one-time procurement.
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Singapore confirms Terrex S5 8x8 IFV program to modernize infantry combat forces, with phased deliveries starting in 2028. (Picture source: ST Engineering)

The new IFVs are based on ST Engineering’s Terrex s5, the latest evolution in the Terrex family of wheeled armoured fighting vehicles. For MINDEF, the appeal lies in continuity and controlled growth: the Terrex lineage is already familiar to the Singapore Armed Forces, yet the S5 is positioned as a future-ready variant designed around five stated pillars: Smartness, Superiority, Sustainability, Survivability, and Serviceability. That framing is not simply marketing language. It reflects the reality that modern IFVs are no longer judged only by armour thickness and gun calibre, but by their ability to survive in a saturated electromagnetic environment, remain maintainable in high-tempo operations, and connect seamlessly to joint and combined battle networks.

The contract consolidates ST Engineering’s role as Singapore’s key land systems integrator, with direct implications for local supply chains and life-cycle support. The company also underlines its intention to leverage the programme to strengthen its export portfolio. In parallel, the award reinforces Singapore’s long-standing approach to procurement: prioritising platforms that can be adapted through incremental upgrades rather than replaced through disruptive fleet turnover. In an era where threat libraries evolve faster than traditional acquisition cycles, this model increasingly looks like a rational hedge.

The Terrex S5 is presented as an 8x8 armoured platform configured specifically as an infantry fighting vehicle. ST Engineering highlights a set of verifiable capability areas rather than disclosing full performance figures. First, the vehicle incorporates digitalised systems intended to enhance situational awareness and operational efficiency. In practical terms, this implies an onboard sensor-to-shooter workflow where detection, classification, and reporting are handled through fused displays and internal data distribution, reducing reaction time under contact and lowering crew workload during complex manoeuvre. Second, ST Engineering explicitly states that the Terrex s5 uses a cyber-secure Generic Vehicle Architecture. This point matters because modern IFVs are software-defined systems on wheels: mission systems, electronic subsystems, radios, and weapon interfaces all rely on digital pathways, and those pathways are vulnerable unless designed with cyber protection as a baseline requirement rather than an afterthought. Third, the company points to advanced vehicle electronics and enhanced firepower, signalling a growth path for weapon integration, sensor packages, and potentially remote or unmanned turret options depending on MINDEF’s final configuration choices.

The partnership with MINDEF and DSTA to integrate additional capabilities deserves attention because it shapes what the platform becomes after delivery begins. DSTA has historically played a central role in Singapore’s systems engineering and networking approach, particularly in integrating sensors, communications, and command-and-control into a coherent operational architecture. With the Terrex s5, the most important output may not be a single configuration frozen at acceptance, but a baseline platform designed to absorb iterative upgrades in communications security, electronic warfare resilience, and target acquisition. The Generic Vehicle Architecture approach suggests that future additions can be integrated with less rework, reducing downtime and enabling faster insertion of new subsystems as threats evolve.

A next-generation wheeled IFV offers Singapore a tool optimised for rapid force concentration, urban and semi-urban manoeuvre, and combined arms integration in constrained terrain. An 8x8 platform typically balances strategic mobility with protection and payload capacity, enabling mechanised infantry to deploy quickly while retaining enough internal volume for mission systems, communications, and dismounted team equipment. The digitalised systems highlighted by ST Engineering point to a vehicle designed to fight as part of a networked formation, where each IFV functions as a sensor node and communications relay as much as a transport and weapons carrier. In operational terms, this supports faster target handoff between dismounted elements and supporting fires, improved coordination with unmanned systems, and more disciplined command in complex engagements. The cyber-secure architecture also has a direct battlefield effect: it reduces the risk that communications disruption or hostile access compromises vehicle functions, which becomes critical when mechanised forces operate under electronic attack.

The programme also fits into a wider trend across Asia-Pacific land forces, where modernisation increasingly prioritises protected mobility and digital survivability. Singapore’s choice of an indigenous platform, backed by domestic engineering depth, provides a level of control that many states lack when relying entirely on foreign original equipment manufacturers for upgrades and integration. It also suggests a recognition that the next decade’s land fight is shaped by persistent surveillance, drones, and electronic warfare, making the IFV’s internal architecture and connectivity nearly as decisive as its armour scheme.

The Terrex s5 contract reinforces Singapore’s deterrence posture at a time when regional security is defined by sharper competition, contested maritime approaches, and the growing overlap between conventional force planning and grey-zone pressure. A modern mechanised IFV fleet does not change the balance alone, but it strengthens Singapore’s ability to respond quickly and credibly to crises, including homeland defence contingencies and coalition operations. By investing in cyber-secure vehicle architectures and long-term integration pathways, Singapore also signals that it expects future conflict to be fought across domains, where resilience in networks and electronics becomes inseparable from battlefield survival. For partners and competitors alike, the message is consistent: Singapore intends to keep a technologically advanced, well-supported land force that can operate in high-threat environments, and it will anchor that capability in a domestic industrial base able to evolve systems at the pace of modern warfare.