South Africa’s State-owned Denel industrial group on Tuesday announced its biggest ever export contract, a €340-million (R3.5-billion) deal with the Malaysian Army. The contract covers the supply of crewed and remotely operated turrets and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to be fitted to Turkish-designed 8 x 8 armoured vehicles being acquired by the South East Asian country.

Denel will supply 69 two-man turrets mounting the GI30 30 mm cannon, 54 missile turrets mounting both the GI30 gun and the Ingwe ATGM, 54 remotely operated weapons systems and 216 laser-guided Ingwe ATGMs. The turrets and GI30 cannons are products of Denel Land Systems and the Ingwe is made by Denel Dynamics.

“I am excited by this contract as it confirms Denel’s position as a global player in the defence manufacturing industry and will lead to a growing interest from the international community in the quality and range of products and services produced by us,” said Denel group CEO Riaz Salojee.

The South African turrets will be fitted to a Malaysian variant of the FNSS Pars armoured vehicle, which is being locally manufactured by a Malaysian company. The Malaysian Army is expected to acquire 257 of these vehicles.

Denel is currently manufacturing the first shipment of turrets, which will be delivered in January next year for trials by the Malaysians. The contract will run for seven years.

Denel will provide offsets to Malaysia, which will include the assembly of the turrets in the Asian country and the transfer of weapons system integration technology. Malaysia already operates Denel’s G5 155 mm gun/howitzer.

The turrets covered by this deal were originally developed by Denel as part of the South African Army’s Badger infantry combat vehicle programme.