The agreement was struck during the
Defence Services Asia show in Kuala Lumpur last month. The South African
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National
Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM) signed a memorandum of agreement
that paves the way for the establishment in Malaysia of a joint Centre
of Excellence for Advanced Defence Technologies, specializing in radar
and sensor technologies.
The signing of the agreement represents a
deepening of bilateral defense business and diplomatic relations
between South Africa and Malaysia.
This is the second major deal
between the two countries this year; it follows a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) signed by Denel Aerostructures and Strand Aerospace
Malaysia to pave the way for collaboration in defense aerospace systems.
Speaking
after the signing ceremony in Malaysia, NDUM's vice chancellor, Gen.
Tan Sri Dato Seri Panglima Haji Zulkifli bin Haji Zainal Abidin, said
collaborating with the South African institution will help Malaysia
develop the capacity to produce defense gear and meet its own demand for
modern electronic warfare systems.
"This collaboration will
support national capability development in Malaysia in the areas of
radar and sensors, electronic warfare and network-centric warfare
through the platform of NDUM," Tan said.
"NDUM is honored to work
with the CSIR, which is internationally recognized as a
research-and-development organization with expertise in the fields of
defense and security," he said. "We are confident that this strategic
partnership will lead to other spinoffs in the defense and security
services sector."
Laurens Cloete, CSIR's executive director, said
the institutions will collaborate on establishing new capabilities in
the design and development of advanced defense subsystems and systems
while undertaking challenging projects expected to deliver results for
stakeholders in both countries.
"The CSIR has a long track record
in radar and optronic sensor and electronic warfare," Cloete said. "We
want it to be the seed around which a critical mass of R&D
capability and high-level skills will be built. International
collaboration such as this demonstrates South African capability, and
benefits the local R&D community by ensuring we remain competitive
on the international stage."
He said the center will initiate and
perform flagship technology demonstrator programs. It also aims to
attract, develop and retain R&D professionals in the field of
advanced applications-oriented defense engineering.
Research into
radar and sensor technology will focus on imaging and related
technologies, such as target identification; advanced search and track;
beam steering and active-phased array research; synthetic aperture
radars; persistent wide-area surveillance on land, sea and air targets;
and software modeling and simulation.
According to South African
media reports, the key priority areas in advanced electronic warfare
systems are electronic self-protection; static or dynamic target
signature measurement; electronic support measures; and instrumentation
for electronic warfare ranges for measurement and evaluation.
The
signing of the Denel-Strand MoU marked the beginning of offset
arrangements for the deal, under which Denel Land Systems is contracted
to supply turrets for Malaysia's armored infantry fighting vehicles.
The
Malaysia tie-up is the second international deal for CSIR after the
November signing of a licensing agreement for the rollout of its
laser-cladding technology with US-based FW Gartner Thermal Spraying.
CSIR
Senior Commercialization Manager Brian Mphahlele said the US deal
offers a unique opportunity for the introduction of a South African
technology with significant industrial potential in the Americas and
Australia. ?
Source : Defensenews
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