Page 9 - DSA 2022 Day 1 - Online Magazine

to produce at least some critical defence Abdullah last December. On defence is committed to continuing its invest-
equipment locally and has already entered industry cooperation, Cavusoglu said ments and collaboration in Malaysia for
into deals with Turkey for the supply of Turkish companies are “closely interested the development of new generation tech-
the Pars AV-8 armoured vehicles. in defence industry tenders for Malaysia.” nologies, particularly in the field of the
The Turkish Aerospace (TA) recently defence and aviation industry.
In the defence sector, Turkey is one of opened a new engineering and design
Malaysia’s main source of defence pro- office in Malaysia. Prof. Kotil said that Turkey will jointly man-
curement, namely armoured vehicles The office at the Cyberview Futurise ufacture its indigenous Hurjet advanced
and military communications. During the campus in the western Selangor state trainer with Malaysia, should a tender pro-
visit by President Erdoğan to Malaysia in is the company’s first engineering and cess be successful. Malaysia is expected
December 2019, a number of agreements design office in Southeast Asia. The to finalise a tender for buying 18 jets to
between firms in the defence sector were Turkish Aerospace said it is committed fulfil its Lead In Trainer-Light Combat
signed. FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.Ş, a to continue its investments and collabo- Aircraft, or FLIR-LCA, requirement. “The
Turkish defence manufacturer, had signed ration in Malaysia for the development of joint production offer will see 15 Hurjets
a master agreement with its Malaysian new generation technologies, particularly being built in Malaysia, with three to be
partner Deftech for the development and in the field of defence industry and avi- built in Turkey,” Prof. Kotil said. According
production of 257 each Malaysian AV8 ation. Turkish and Malaysian engineers to him, joint production will build Malaysian
(8x8) armoured wheeled vehicles in 12 will carry out joint studies in a number capacity to produce aircraft of the type,
configurations. The vehicle is based on of areas such as unmanned aerial vehi- as TAI saw Malaysia as “one of the best
PARS 8x8. cles, jet trainers, helicopter projects, and countries to collaborate with strategically
modernisation programs for the global in Asia-Pacific.”
Under the US$559 Million contract aviation ecosystem.
awarded in February 2011, in cooperation TA plans to train 12 Malaysian engineers
with DRB-HICoM DEFTECH of Malaysia Malaysia’s International Trade and at its plant in Ankara, as it aims to help
FNSS is designing, developing and pro- Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said Malaysia develop its own fighter jet design
ducing a total of 257 armoured personnel the move is an opportunity for the two and manufacturing capability. Prof. Kotil
carriers to be based on PARS-II 8x8 in countries to combine their joint exper- said Malaysia should embark on their own
12 different configurations including; the tise to secure workflow for the benefit programme to attain self-rliance. It is with
infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), armoured of the Turkish and Malaysian aerospace great expectation that the Malaysian
fighting vehicle (AFV), the armoured industry. “Turkey has one of the fastest government could wisely strategise a
personnel carrier (APC), tank destroyer developing defence and aerospace sec- remodelling and reorganisation of the
(AFV-ATGW), command vehicles (ACV), tors in the world and has achieved many defence industry to make it more relevant
signals (AVS), reconnaissance vehicle as firsts for the Muslim world,” Azmin Ali to the future defence and security needs
well as recovery vehicle. While the orig- stated. Arham Abdul Rahman, the CEO of the country. Envisioning a Malaysian
inal PARS 8x8 was 24-25 ton vehicle, of the Malaysian Investment Development defence aircraft environment akin to the
the AV-8 IFV-25 configuration weighs 28 Authority, said that TAI’s “footprint” in US Lockheed-Martin, 50 years down the
tons and its equipment differs consider- Malaysia will enhance the country’s aero- line, Prof. Kotil said the country has all the
ably from that of PARS. Deliveries have space ecosystem. potential to realise the vision, provided
been continuing to Malaysian military, with full commitment from policymakers.
and the Malaysian Defence Ministry is “The competitive cost of doing business The effort of the Defence White Paper by
said to be considering placing an order in Malaysia will undoubtedly be beneficial the Malaysian government may just be
for the second and third batches of AV-8 for both parties to raise the nation’s local the needed impetus to address the many
vehicles. expertise as well as certification status,” issues faced by the Malaysian defence
Rahman said. Turkish Aerospace has industry for its future development.
Turkey has been assisting Malaysia, also invited Malaysia to join the country’s
which is strategic partner, to further indigenous fighter program, the TF-X,
improve the defence industry. following Ankara’s suspension from the
“We are resolved to improving our rela- U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pro-
tions on every front when it comes to gram. The company had already signed
especially using our potential well in a memorandum of understanding with
the upcoming period,” Turkish Foreign the Asian nation for the co-production
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint of TF-X composites.
press conference in Ankara with his vis- Prof. Temel Kotil, CEO of Turkish
iting Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Aerospace Industries, said his company

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