BAE System ready proposal for the Malaysian government in its bid for Eurofighter Typhoon

Eurofighter Typhoon at DSA 2012

BAE Systems has a ready proposal for the Malaysian government in its bid for the Royal Malaysian Air Force's MiG-29N replacement contract.

The proposal comprised a 100-page list of technologies that the company was willing to transfer as well as names of local and overseas companies that were willing to participate in the process, said Group Business Development Director Alan Garwood.

"This is something that we have shown to some of the members of government here. This is not a memorandum of understandings (MoUs) that will never happen. This is 100 pages of real work, not just BAE Systems but also our other partners like EADS and Rolls Royce.

"They are all offering works for Malaysian companies and this is not empty promises. We will deliver," he told Bernama.

Besides, BAE Systems which has worked with local companies like Boustead and Airod, will leverage on the existing partnership with these companies as well as new local partners that have the capability to source not only locally but overseas.

Citing the example of Composites Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd, he said when the company started the project, it was only manned by several skilled people and today the staff strength has grown to some 1,200 working on every Airbus model.

BAE Systems is among the 850 companies participating in DSA 2012, one of the top five defence and security exhibitions in the world, which kicked off today.

The UK-based company, which is the lead contractor on behalf of Eurofighter nations comprising the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain, is offering Eurofighter Typhoon as the replacement for the MiG-29N.

The company had expressed its interest since 2009.

"The RMAF has evaluated the aircraft and completed their trial few weeks ago in the United Kingdom and now we have to work with the Malaysian government to see whether we can identify an offer which can be attractive," he said.

Garwood, who was also part of British Prime Minister David Cameron's business delegation last week, said the re-establishment of Malaysia-Britain bilateral relations in almost 20 years, would further enhance the partnership between the Britain and Malaysian companies in the future.

"His government (Cameron) intends to fully recognise the absolute vital economic strategic importance of the Asean region and Malaysia in particular.

"This is probably the strongest bilateral relationship for the two countries in almost two decades," he said.

The Malaysian air force and navy have been BAE Systems' client, having purchased 10 Hawk Mk108 and 18 Mk208 aircraft in the early 1990s.

The world's second-largest defence company, by revenue, hopes to persuade the defence ministry to buy 18 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets for the RMAF.

It was reported that BAE's Eurofighter Typhoon will be competing alongside four other rivals - France's Dassault Aviation's Rafale; the US' Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet; the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen and the Russian Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E.

However, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said in Sept last year that Malaysia had no plans to purchase new military assets in the near future, including the long-awaited deal to replace RMAF's fleet of MiG-29N.

Currently, BAE Systems has six Typhoon customers already, excluding Oman, which is currently in negotiation.

To date, 707 Typhoon aircraft are under contract and more than 300 have been delivered from the production line.

Bernama