Aerospace, defense sectors a key growth node for Honeywell Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Honeywell Malaysia sees opportunities in the defense and aerospace sector within Malaysia, driven by the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF) growing need to upgrade and maintain their current fleet of aircraft, and potential doubledigit growth in commercial aircraft demand for Asia over the next two decades.
The group’s vice president of aftermarket sales (defense) for Asia Pacific, Tim Van Luven, was optimistic that growth in Malaysia will significantly require increased aftermarket support and stimulate new industry-leading innovations and applications through the Internet of Things and big data, enabling the connected aircraft.
“We remain committed to advancing Malaysia’s defense and aerospace industry; the country has been a priority market for us since we became the first global company to join Malaysia’s Principal Hub initiative in 2016,” he told The Borneo Post in an interview.
“We are also constantly looking for new ways to leverage our local partnerships and global supply chain network to bring aftermarket support in Malaysia to the next level.
“This includes preventive maintenance services, which allows both military and commercial aircraft to operate more safely and efficiently, while we provide top-of-the-line services for our customers in the region.”
This comes as Honeywell Malaysia takes part in this year’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2019), marking its tenth year since the exhibition’s debut in 1991.
“In the years since, we have established close relationships with many of the attendees and industry leaders, including the defense ministry in Malaysia as well as many of the Asean nations, and understand their needs well,” Van Luven added.
“From a defense perspective, there is a huge opportunity to support the needs of the RMAF through Honeywell’s Repair Modification and Upgrade (RMU) and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) solutions.
“The chief of RMAF stated that, around 40 per cent of assets belonging to the RMAF require immediate upgrades as many have passed the 20 to 30-year mark.
The RMAF notes that its older assets will be prone to more maintenance issues and will require more frequent servicing, leading to higher costs incurred.
Through RMU and modernisation programmes, Van Luven said an existing aircraft’s defense capabilities can be enhanced, and its platform life will be extended to ensure optimal aircraft operational performance.
“As a key solutions provider for many of the aircraft platforms in Malaysia and the region, our wide range of advanced defense technologies are capable of supporting modernisation efforts across a diverse variety of RMAF aircraft platforms,” he said, citing the C-130 Hercules, F/A-18 Hornet, and AgustaWestland AW139 as examples.
“Honeywell’s MRO solutions, which are supported through our local partners and global supply chain network, are also able to support the local industry players or customers such as the RMAF.
“These solutions are highly versatile and formulated according to our customers’ needs to drive operational availability and reliability, while reducing maintenance and lifecycle costs, and simplifying the maintenance processes.
We can offer a wide range of MRO support programmes to the Malaysian military.” Coming back to LIMA 2019 will allow Honeywell Malaysia to highlight and demonstrate its solutions that assist the armed forces in Southeast Asia to maximise and enhance their operational effectiveness, reliability and safety for its operations and mission readiness.
“We believe that our participation in LIMA is the right platform to reiterate our commitment to the region and to Malaysia,” he asserted.