Thales awarded by Malaysia’s Ministry of Defence

• Gets the most outstanding industrial collaboration programme recognition

Langkawi. 26 March 2019. The award is the first of its kind being presented to a foreign multinational and recognises Thales’ contribution to furthering Malaysia’s defence offsets policy.

Thales celebrates over 40 years of local industrial presence in Malaysia. With over 200 employees, including those from its joint venture, and with locations in Kuala Lumpur, Kuantan, Kota Kinabalu and Lumut, Thales is supporting the ambitions of Malaysia’s key stakeholders in building the future of Malaysian industry.

As Malaysia modernises its defence forces, it seeks to gain capabilities through collaboration and technology transfers. This includes developing its own capacity to overhaul and maintain military equipment, develop an efficient technology management programme and train the future defence forces in the country.  The country has embarked on a robust defence offset policy in recent years to enhance the participation of its local industries.

At a ceremony held during Day 1 of the LIMA 2019 exhibition, Thales was recognised by Malaysia’s Ministry of Defence with an award for the Most Outstanding Industrial Collaboration Programme. The award was presented to Thales by the Secretary General of Defence Dato’ Halimi bin Abd Manaf, witnessed by Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammed, Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Tuan Haji Mohamad Sabu, Minister of Defence.

“The government of Malaysia supports the growth of the local defence industry and the Industrial Collaboration programme has been established to allow Malaysian industry to benefit from the best technology from foreign partners. The Ministry of Defence wishes to thank Thales for its continuous commitment to support Malaysia by delivering best-in-class projects that sustainably benefit the entire defence ecosystem. From users, local industry academic institutions and other Malaysian organisations, we are paving the way for a bright future for Malaysia,” said En. Wan Mohd Asraf bin Wan Salleh, Under Secretary, Defence Industry Division, Ministry of Defence, Malaysia.

The award recognises Thales’ active participation in key projects designed to modernise the defence sector, including the integrated vehicle electronic architecture for the AV8 programme, and the ForceSHIELD integrated air defence system. In both these projects, Thales works closely with local partners, DEFTECH for the AV8 programme and Global Komited, a company within the WestStar Group for ForceSHIELD. The AV8 offset obligation was fulfilled two years before its deadline thanks to a transfer-of-technology, local manufacturing and the creation of a signalling and communications railway Centre of Excellence.

“Thales is honoured to receive this recognition from the Malaysian Ministry of Defence, for our contributions to developing the local capabilities and expertise of the defence forces in Malaysia in a win-win approach. With our established industrial footprint throughout Malaysia over the last 40 years supported by over 200 dedicated employees, we are committed to building the future of Malaysian industry, through technology, knowledge transfer and training, while fulfilling our offset obligations in the country. We are a strategic partner to Malaysia’s infrastructural development, and we look forward to greater engagement with Malaysia’s key stakeholders in building future offsets programmes,” said Pascale Sourisse, Senior Executive Vice President of Thales.

In less than 3 years, Thales also completed its ForceSHIELD offsets obligation by helping boost local capabilities with the creation of a Master of Science degree in International Technology Management for Defence and Security with the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM). The one-year programme, designed by Thales in collaboration with UPNM and Warwick Manufacturing Group, will commence with its first batch of students in June 2019.

Over the last 40 years, Thales in Malaysia has built and maintained long-term, strategic partnerships with key local partners across all business areas: defence, transportation, security, and aerospace. In addition to a fully-Malaysian workforce at its joint venture, Sapura Thales Electronics (STE), who exports its tactical radios worldwide, Thales’ local presence can also be felt throughout Malaysia with naval Service & Support Centres in Lumut and Kota Kinabalu serving the Royal Malaysian Navy and a System integration lab in Kuantan for the AV8 programme.