UK in serious discussion to sell jets to Malaysia
LANGKAWI: The United Kingdom regards its relationship with Malaysia in the defence industry as a unique cooperation that does not only cover security, but also creates prosperity through job creation.
It looks forward to the sharing of ideas on new capabilities and technology transfer with Malaysia.
UK Defence Procurement and Export Minister Harriett Baldwin said the British government loved working closely with its Malaysian counterparts, where the two countries did not only have extensive and enduring friendship through the Five Power Defence Agreement, but also through long-standing ties between the two economies.
“We have a lot of common ground in terms of defence and security challenges that we face, and there’s a very good relationship between the UK and Malaysia at the political and defence levels.
“I’m proud to be leading the UK delegation to Lima (Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition), where we have a number of UK companies participating in the Malaysian economy.
“An example is BAE Systems, which has been working with the Malaysian armed forces for the past four decades on different projects.
“We are excited about our defence relationship’s potential, not just to create security but also prosperity through job creation,” she told the New Straits Times here yesterday.
Baldwin said they were in serious discussion with the Malaysian Defence Ministry over the potential for Malaysia to procure UK-made Typhoon multi-role combat aircraft.
She said an evaluation done independently through Oxford Analytics suggested that buying Typhoon could create over 20,000 highly-skilled Malaysian jobs.