The Information Fusion Center (IFC) of the Republic of Singapore Navy has been a pioneer in regional maritime domain awareness. It’s information products and fact sheets influence regional responses, it’s information sharing system connects agencies of the region, and the its international liaison officer system provides an important way of making sense of incoming incident data and triggering responses. With this architecture the IFC provides an important standard for how regions can advance their maritime surveillance, information sharing and maritime security cooperation.

From the 22.-26. of July, I had the opportunity to contribute to the IFC’s annual networking and capacity building event: the week long Regional Marsec Practitioner Programme (RMPP). Featuring discussions on recent threats, law of the seas and strategy, but also excursions, including the fantastic Singapore Navy Museum, the RMPP is important to build trust and personal relations among the participating agencies’ future leaders. It’s also a good place to understand what is new at the IFC.

What is new at the IFC?

It was also a good opportunity to learn about recent developments in the IFC architecture. Three are the most important:

🏴 The IFC is now opening up to participation of coastguard and maritime police agencies. This is an important reform, as in the past the IFC was primarily a navy-to-navy mechanism, yet to deal with many incidents in the region coastguards are often the more important actors.

🏴The IFC team is working on an upgrade of its bespoke information sharing system. A core feature of the update will be to enable direct communication with merchant vessels, and to allow for easier reporting. It is expected to go live in 2025.

🏴The IFC has continuously broadened its focus on emerging threats. It includes a category on maritime cyber security incidents, but the data shows that incidents are underreported and industry hesitates to provide data to IFC. Threats to infrastructure, such as subsea data cables, are recognized, but not yet included as a a separate category in the system.

➤ To learn more about the IFC, the edited collection Jane Chan and I produced for its anniversary is still a good read.