Turkish Aerospace, an aerospace and defence company, is hoping to continue investments and collaborations with Malaysia for the development of new-generation technologies, particularly in the defence and aviation industry.
Speaking exclusively to Bernama, Turkish Aerospace vice-president (Corporate Marketing and Communications) Bertan Kurt said the company is also set to train Malaysian engineers at its plant in Ankara, aiming to help Malaysia to develop its own fighter jet design and manufacturing capability.
“The reason we are here is not only to sell the products but we are here for human resources. We have inked agreements with Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) as we are getting students from (these universities) in the summer and we host a camp in our facilities in Ankara.
“The students will stay with us for one month and they are doing some internship programme before returning to Malaysia. Once they graduated, we could hire them in Malaysia or Turkiye. Our main point is technology transfers to brothers in Malaysia,” he told Bernama.
Kurt was met on the sidelines of the 16th Edition of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA ‘23) which kicked off on Tuesday.
In 2021, Turkish Aerospace opened its first engineering and design office in Malaysia, located in Cyberjaya, which helps Turkish and Malaysian engineers collaborate on the light fighter jet, the Hurjet project, for Malaysia’s aviation ecosystem.
Elaborating on the contract signed by Defence Ministry and Turkish Aerospace for the Anka-S unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) during LIMA ‘23, Kurt said it was for phase one and the tender was running for five years.
Kurt said the company will gradually start delivering the UAVs to RMAF in 2025.
“Alhamdulillah, we have signed the contract for three Anka-S with satellite communications and there will be a special radar in them. We will deliver in two years and it will be in service in 2025. We are looking forward for the phase two,” he said.
On LIMA ‘23, he said the biennial event has opened the doors for Turkiye companies to expand their businesses and they are ready to participate in the next LIMA.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency