Thales wins Malaysia vehicle contract

Thales-Malaysia will integrate an advanced open vehicle electronic architecture system for 257 armored-wheeled vehicles of the Malaysian army. The contract was awarded by DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies Sdn. Bhd, the local company selected by the Malaysian Ministry of Defense for the design, development and manufacturing of the 8x8 vehicles. Thales, in an announcement from the Defense and Security Equipment International exhibition in London, said that under the contract it will provide an integrated and scalable vehicle electronic architecture system that includes a wide range of new-generation equipment, such as communications, vetronics, sensors, command and control, mortar and optronics. Its joint venture in Malaysia, Sapura Thales Electronics, will supply the complete HF and VHF radio communications system for the 257 vehicles. Thales said it will integrate a state-of-the-art Open Information Communication System, branded as VSys-net, which enables voice, data and video information exchange within vehicles and externally.