SHAH ALAM: Turkish Delights, Part 2. As reported previously, Malaysia and Turkish companies had signed a number of agreements in the sidelines of the KL summit. It must be said though I had reported that one of the agreements signed would be on the 6X6 project but it appears that it was not on the table. However other projects outlined by the Defence White Paper, the MALE UAV and MRSS were indeed signed.

Appended below is from Bernama courtesy of the PMO.

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 18 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today held a bilateral meeting at Perdana Putra, here. The 45-minute discussion was held on the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit (KL Summit) 2019.

After the talks, Dr Mahathir and President Erdogan also witnessed the exchange of several instruments of agreement between governments and businesses of the two countries in various fields. Thirteen instruments of cooperation between business entities of the two countries in the field of defence were also exchanged during the ceremony.

Among the instruments were the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between Sapura Secured Technologies Sdn Bhd and Aselsan Electronic on the Domain of Military Communication; and memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Havelsan Hava Electronic and AMP Corporation Sdn Bhd on Coastal Radar Surveillance.

Also exchanged was the MoU document between Tijan Galaxy Aerospace Consortium Sdn Bhd and Baynar Makina on Cooperation, Partnership, Knowledge Sharing and Technology Transfer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Services.

— BERNAMA

Indeed the signings were likely the result to have closer part cooperation between Malaysia and Turkey companies following Tun Mahathir visit to Turkey recently. Anyhow I guess I dont have to introduce Sapura Secured Technologies to our Malaysian readers as the company is also supplying the Army with various types of tactical radios, the Future Soldier System and the NCO.

AMP Corporation is less well known though as it is mostly involved with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). Despite less well known compared to Sapura, the company like the former is already a well established defence industry player so its tie up with the Turkish company is more or less a nod to the call of the government for better ties with Turkey’s companies.

As for Turkish UAV maker Baykar Makina it is the first tie up with a local company, Tijan Galaxy Consortiume Sdn Bhd. which are subsidiaries or associate companies of local defence industry companies, Gading and Weststar. An agreement on the MRSS project was also signed at the same function, one that involved the MRSS project, between Istanbul Shipyard and Industri Marin Manjung Consortium though it was not reported by the news agency. Istanbul Shipyard tweeted about the signing ceremony.

Turkish Aerospace also signed a colloboration agreement with CTRM, a subsidiary of DRB Hicom Sdn Bhd at the KL Summit itself, though no further details were released.

As DRB-Hicom other subsdiary, Deftech, had already signed a similar agreement with Turkish Aerospace on promoting the Anka UAV for RMAF needs one can assumed that the latest one is just another affirmation of both companies on-going relationship and simply a reflection of the current political situation.

And another agreement was signed outside the KL Summit, one between Nadicorp Holdings Sdn Bhd and Nurol Makina of Turkey. The MOU is for a long-term partnership and collaboration to assist in the industrialisation of specialised vehicles inclusive of armoured technology and transfer. The release did not mention any specific vehicles but its likely Ejder Yalcin 4X4 armoured vehicle. Nurol Makina was previously partnered with Deftech to promote the Ejder to meet an Army requirements for a high mobility, protected vehicle.

It is important to note these agreements are only a pony show and does not reflect anything in the future. I guess, the more things changed, the more things stays the same.

— Malaysian Defence

If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment