Defense buzzwords at Singapore Air Show

Amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty, defense buyers at the Singapore Airshow said they were prioritizing sovereignty, from local production and joint development to ownership of the software and intellectual property that runs their systems.

Industry leaders say hardware, software and supply chain management are now central to procurement decisions.

Executives at the show, which concludes on Sunday, cited shifting alliances and tougher rhetoric from major powers as catalysts for this trend.

“There is a concept that is very clearly becoming widespread…the concept of sovereignty,” says Pascal Soulis, senior executive vice president of international development at the French aerospace and defense company. Thaleshe told CNBC.

Soulis added that this thinking has led to increased defense spending as countries conclude that they must protect their own security.

Mr. Chua Jin Kiat, Executive Vice President and Head of International Defense Business, Singapore Engineering and Defense Corporation ST Engineeringechoed this sentiment, saying that over the past 12 months, US President Donald Trump’s belligerent stance toward allies has made countries realize that “we may not be able to depend on other countries.”

Under the Trump administration, the United States has encouraged allies to increase defense spending, with NATO pledging to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035.

President Trump has threatened allies such as Canada and recently Denmark over the territory of Greenland. He also reportedly said he would sell weaker versions of U.S. weapons to allies “because one day they may not be our allies.”

Chua added that countries are realizing that old alliances and alliances, even organizations such as NATO, may no longer be “as compelling or relevant.”

“So you can be a NATO member. But really, at the end of the day today, what we’re seeing is, first and foremost, if I’m Germany, I’m Germany. If I’m Finland, I’m Finland,” he said.

A direct result of this change is a renewed focus on strengthening supply chain resilience. Companies told CNBC they are responding by localizing production, transferring know-how and partnering with domestic companies to help customers maintain and upgrade their systems without long and vulnerable supply lines.

Soulis said Thales plans to not only market its solutions, but also localize its activities and capabilities. The company has set up a joint lab with local institutions in Singapore to develop on-the-ground capabilities.

ST Engineering’s Chua said the company prefers co-production arrangements overseas as there is limited land area available for large factories in Singapore.

For example, if ST Engineering could build an advanced car in a country with more production plant space than Singapore, the company could collaborate and teach how to build cars in a co-production effort.

“Many large prime companies have to keep their home factories running. They have huge production plants and thousands of jobs, and the lights have to stay on.”

new kids on the block

Sovereignty extends beyond factories to software and intellectual property. Defense technology startups are beginning to recognize this demand and are structuring deals accordingly.

US-based Shield AI, which develops autonomous combat systems, signed a memorandum of understanding at the air show to integrate its Hivemind autonomous software across selected ST Engineering platforms.

The company partnered with the Singapore Air Force in early 2025 to use Hivemind to enhance the RSAF’s autonomous capabilities.

Brandon Tseng, co-founder of Shield AI, told CNBC that Hivemind will allow other companies and the military to develop their own artificial intelligence pilots locally, and Singapore will own the intellectual property.

“They can build an AI pilot to do whatever they want. We don’t own it. [the IP]” he told CNBC.

Tseng added that countries will continue to buy foreign hardware, but many want to domesticate key capabilities such as AI and autonomy.