SINGAPORE - In the near future, drones will be deployed across Singapore to chase criminals, document fires and conduct routine patrols.

Controlled remotely, the drones will fly out from boxes placed across the island, enabling officers to respond quickly to incidents and have more information before arriving at the scene.

These drone box systems were on display at the Milipol TechX Summit (MTX) 2026, which is being held from April 28 to 30 at Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The event is jointly organised by the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), Civipol, TechX Ventures and events company Comexposium, and is supported by Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs and France’s Ministry of the Interior.

Currently, deploying police drones take about an hour, as officers must transport the drone to the site, a process influenced by traffic conditions.

The new drone box system will see 40kg drones being almost immediately deployed to incidents while officers or firefighters are still on their way.

The drones are equipped with three different types of cameras, and can also carry a speaker and a spotlight.

Each drone is housed in a box weighing around 4,000kg, which includes extra batteries and cameras that can be swopped out if needed. This set-up allows the drones to sustain operations for extended periods of time.

Mr Lee Wing Ho, an engineer from HTX’s Robotics, Automation and Unmanned Systems (RAUS) team, said the drones come equipped with 5G capabilities allowing them to be controlled remotely.

This approach eliminates the need to station drone operators across various locations. Instead, all of the drones can be controlled from a centralised pool of operators in a single location.