Defence Services Asia 2018 Snapshot

DSA has become one of South East Asia’s leading defence shows which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary, having started in 1988. Here are some of the highlights.

- Andrew Drwiega

Under a UK government backed financing initiative, BAE Systems is offering to provide the Malaysian government with a “payment holiday” if it were to select the Euro fighter Typhoon as its next generation fighter, John Brosnan, managing director of BAE Systems (International) told Asian Military Review at the start of the DSA, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (16-19 April). As part of the European consortium that builds the Typhoon (alongside Airbus Defence & Space and Leonardo), BAE would share in the deal which could be worth over $2 billion.

In addition to promoting other types of military equipment such as the 155mm M777, the ‘future of artillery’ as the company states, BAE also continued its partnership with Cyber Security Malaysia (CSM) by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that expands a knowledge, experience and capability sharing partnership for a further two years. According to Alan Garwood, group business development director at BAE Systems, there were only 25 people working on cyber security in 2013 when the venture was started. “This is now a world recognised cyber centre with over 400 people employed in Kuala Lumpur. Cyber is also one of the fastest growing business areas in BAE,” Garwood stated.

The major news from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace during DSA was the announcement of a $148 million (€124 million) order to supply the Royal Malaysian Navy with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) for their six new Littoral Combat Ships. The ships will be build at the Boustead Naval Shipyard in Malaysia and will feature the NSM in a deck mounted configuration and integrated to the SETIS combat management system provided by Naval Group.