Airbus confident in Malaysian defence market

AIRBUS is seeking to elevate their partnership with Malaysia, reaffirming their commitment with a renewed focus on deepening strategic partnerships, especially in the defence market and sustainability.

Speaking to members of the press in Kuala Lumpur, Airbus Executive Vice President (International) Wouter van Wersch outlined the company’s confidence in continuing to supply its range of rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft to the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF).

“The Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF) four units of A400M airlifters have proven to be efficient and serves its intended purpose, so we do see potential to bring more units to Malaysia to expand the capabilities of the Air Force.”, van Wersch said. Two of the RMAF’s A400M airlifted 127 Palestinian patients and relatives from Egypt’s Al Maza Air Base to Subang Air Base here in Malaysia last week. Additionally, he added that the smaller C295 mid-sized airlifter would also be a good fit with the RMAF, pairing well with the larger A400M.

Furthermore, van Wersch spoke on the possibility of further orders for the H225M helicopters with the armed forces, the RMAF has operated 12 units of the H225M since 2012 and is currently looking to acquire another 12 new helicopters. Meanwhile, the Army Aviation faces an increasingly dire need for medium or heavy-lift helicopters. “This helicopter really answers the needs of the customers, so I think it would make full sense to have more of them in Malaysia.”

Airbus President (Asia Pacific) Anand Stanley added, “the H225M is fully tried and tested in Malaysia, proving to be perfect for operations today as demonstrated in the past 12 years. Secondly, we have a Centre of Excellence here in Subang which handles training and spare parts for all H225Ms in this region. The trusted H225M in conjunction with the local independent capability and capacity building in Malaysia would be unparalleled.”-shp/adj/dl (Pix:AIRBUS, RMAF)