How Will Asian Nations Modernise Armoured Vehicle Fleets?

Online, July 22, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Singapore - As Asian defence forces focus greater attention on land warfare strategies, they are faced with an increasing need to expand, reinforce and upgrade their armoured vehicle fleets to meet growing domestic security needs, reinforce border security and expand support to international missions.

So how will nations such as India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea and Thailand modernise their current armoured vehicle fleets in order to match requirements while keeping to available budgets?

Military personnel from these nations will discuss these plans, as well as current procurement methodologies, design and capability enhancements, and operational lessons at Armoured Vehicles Asia. Presented by Defence IQ, this event takes place 12th October - 13th October 2010 at the Singapore Expo in Singapore.

In a recent interview with Defence IQ, Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely comments: "In the design of armoured vehicles, the emphasis right now is on protection [...] we also need the armoured vehicles to have the fire power that will allow them to defeat other armoured vehicles, and also to be able to hold ground. The role of armoured vehicles in future conflicts is going to be very, very diverse."

Kiszely makes a key point - the future role of armoured vehicles in the Asian markets is currently in transitional phase with continuing common challenges including balancing armour, firepower and manoeuvrability. These challenges will be addressed in October, with sessions led by:

• Dr Kogila Balakrishnan, Undersecretary, Defence Industrial Division, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE MALAYSIA
• General Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of Army, SRI LANKA ARMY
• Col AK Sharma, (former) Armour Battalion Commander & Dean, Faculty of Technical Studies, INDIAN ARMY
• Antonio L. Romero II, Undersecretary for Finance & Armed Forces Modernization Affairs and OIC - Undersecretary for Defense Affairs, DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE PHILIPPINES
• Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sun Young, Armoured Vehicles Project Team, DEFENSE ACQUISITION PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION (DAPA), REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Further topics at the Armoured Vehicles Asia will range from:
• How Asian nations are planning to modernise armoured vehicle fleets
• Procurement methodologies used throughout Asia
• Relationship-building with regional defence force colleagues
• Capability enhancement options
• Operational lessons learnt from those that have recently returned from combat zones

The Armoured Vehicles Networking LinkedIn group is open for membership at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=162026. For event details and content, visit http://www.armouredvehiclesasia.com or contact Jit Sihota at [email protected].