LONDON, June 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Officials from the Malaysian, Indonesian and South Korean Ministries of Defence will be gathering in Singapore in October to examine the future growth of the region's armoured vehicle fleets at the 3rd annual Armoured Vehicles Asia conference.

Confirmation of the speaker faculty at this year's event comes in the wake of the announcement earlier this month of the $559 million deal for event sponsor FNSS, a joint venture between BAE Systems and Turkey's Nurol Holding, to supply the Indonesian Armed Forces with 257 wheeled armoured vehicles. The AV-8 vehicle selected by the Malaysian military is based on the FNSS-designed PARS 8x8 multi-purpose, multi-mission, wheeled armored vehicle.

"FNSS is committed to providing the means [...] to realize the goal of developing an 8x8 Wheeled Armored Vehicle Family (AV8) to meet the Malaysia Armed Forces requirements," explains John Kelly, Vice President of exports and international business for BAE Systems' Land and Armaments sector. "This effort will not only benefit the Malaysian army but will also further develop the indigenous capability in Malaysia."

Examining Malaysia's success in selecting a contractor for the 8x8 programme, the impact on Malaysia's Defence industry, as well as future armoured vehicle procurement and development in the country, will be Major General Dato' Pahlawan Dr. William R. Stevenson, Director of the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security, speaking on Day One of the programme.

Joining him to explore their own country's vehicle fleet expansion and to identify future procurement priorities and capability requirements in the Asian region will be an expert panel of speakers from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea including:

• Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander, Sri Lankan Army
• Lieutenant General Dalip Bhardwaj (Ret'd), Former Director Mechanised Forces, Indian Army
• Major General Surasit Thanadtank, Director General, Strategic Studies Centre, Royal Thai Armed Forces
• Brigadier General Junias Tobing, Chief of TNI Center for Strategic Studies, Indonesian Ministry of Defence
• Mr Yonghwan Kim, International Cooperation Director, Defence Agency for Technology and Quality, Korean Ministry of Defence

Full conference details and are available at http://www.armouredvehiclesasia.com, including complimentary articles, podcasts and videos in the Download Centre. More information on Defence IQ's Armoured Vehicles series can be found at http://www.armouredvehiclesevents.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Calum Jeffray | IQPC, 2nd Floor, 129 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1JZ | Tel: +44-20-7368-9300, e-mail: defence@iqpc.co.uk

SOURCE Defence IQ