Malaysia Positions Defence Industry for Exports to Bangladesh

Reading Time: 2 minutes Malaysia’s defence industry is positioning itself as a potential supplier to Bangladesh following the signing of a new defence cooperation agreement between the two nations on 12 August 2025. The accord, reached during Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’s visit to Kuala Lumpur, provides a formal framework for government-to-government defence collaboration and industrial engagement. Track Record with Bangladesh Malaysia’s AIROD has previous experience supporting Bangladesh military assets, having performed maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work on Bangladesh Air Force C-130B Hercules transport aircraft. The programme demonstrated Malaysia’s ability to handle complex depot-level aerospace tasks for foreign operators. Similarly, HICOM Handalan trucks medium-duty military vehicles assembled by DRB-HICOM were offered to the Bangladesh Army in the past. Although these proposals did not result in a contract, they highlighted Malaysia’s interest in the Bangladeshi market. Current Offerings At the centre of Malaysia’s land systems sector is DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies (DefTech),