The Denel Group recently showed its range of products and various capabilities at an international defence exhibition attended by highlevel decision-makers from the region and other parts of the world in Malaysia.
“South East Asia is an important market for Denel with significant potential for business growth,” says the Group CEO, Zwelakhe Ntshepe. “We already have well-established relationships with a number of countries and regional defence manufacturers and are pursuing major opportunities that will soon open up.”
The Defence Services Asia Exhibition – DSA 2018 – held in Kuala Lumpur recently was attended by defence decision-makers, heads of armed forces and industry leaders from more than 55 countries.
Many of the countries in the Asian-Pacific are re-equipping their defence forces in response to changes in the regional security environment. Denel has identified opportunities for business growth in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Singapore.
“Our capabilities in landward defence, artillery and armoured vehicles are well-known in the region because of our long and strong relationship with the Malaysian defence industry. We will also focus on our proven capabilities in missile technology, especially the Umkhonto surface-to-air missile system which can be deployed in both the landward and maritime environments,” says Ntshepe.
Denel has been active in Malaysia for 16 years. Its primary contract is for the supply of 177 modular turrets to be fitted onto 8X8 armoured vehicles for the Malaysian army. The R4-billion contract is the largest export contract in Denel’s history.
Denel Land Systems manufactures the turrets in partnership with the Malaysian Company, DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies (Deftech). The contract forms part of Malaysia’s economic enhancement programme which will contribute to the establishment of production, assembly and testing facilities in the country. While Denel is manufacturing the bulk of the system’s components such as the guns and sights, the assembly and testing of the turrets will be done in Malaysia.
In addition to the turrets, Denel has also supplied G5 155mm artillery and ammunition, 81mm long range mortars and NTW20 antimateriel rifles to the Malaysian army and SS77 machine guns to the country’s navy.
