Tellumat, the South African defence and communications electronics company, has exhibited at DSA at least five times since its début in 1998, then known as Plessey. Today, DSA continues to be a platform for the latest in defence equipment and technology, weaponry, as well as advancements in security and safety.

“During 2011, Tellumat intensified market development efforts in Malaysia, citing it as a key strategic market for the company on the premise of sound, consistent and stable existing government to government relations,” reveals Ghaazim Rylands, head of sales for Tellumat Defence.

Since September 2011, Tellumat has agreed on several initiatives with key local industry towards addressing opportunities in the area of unmanned systems, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) and tactical communications solutions and products.

“Tellumat’s ethos and approach directly serves the strategic interests of Malaysia by collaborating intensely with local partners to the extent that technology sharing and capability establishment is achieved,” says Rylands. It is believed that this has helped significantly with regards to expediting the various collaborations with industry.

The unmanned systems industry in Malaysia, specifically the segment which is engaged with airborne systems, is ever growing and is a sector where capability development and establishment is an ongoing activity and need. Tellumat’s unmanned systems offering is remarkably unique since its product portfolio is targeted at a sub-systems level focused at working with UAV system integrators.

This portfolio was developed by industry experts who have been a strategic part of the South African UAV community dating as far back as the early 1980s. “These experts, along with Tellumat’s product and sub-systems portfolio, promote an attractive opportunity to the Malaysian system integrators in addressing their requirements,” Rylands adds.

Tellumat is the South African IFF and secure identification systems authority which represents a key capability area in terms of any defence force’s state of readiness. In this area the company has developed, qualified and installed products and systems throughout many platforms, covering naval, land and air forces. More significantly, Tellumat has assisted several defence forces with the overall capability to implement and roll out a secure mode solution while maintaining similarity and compatibility to published NATO standards.

Tactical communications will remain a major challenge for all defence forces throughout the globe. Malaysia would similarly be continuing efforts in this area to address this in its ongoing programmes. Rylands adds that “with Tellumat’s track record in communications, we are able to share learnings directly from experts facing similar challenges back home”.

Tellumat, since its inception in South Africa in 1963 as Plessey, continues to offer the market valuable products, solutions and services in the defence sector. The company’s capabilities extend through the entire product life cycle in various challenging environments as would be the case in avionics, ground mobile and naval products and systems. “The establishment of these kinds of capabilities would be essential should the Malaysian industry be setting its sights on being comprehensive and competitive in its export markets,” states Rylands.

The South African participation at DSA is organised by the dti and Armscor. This year Tellumat, along with more than 20 other South African companies and industry members, is once again participating on the South African Pavilion at the 13th DSA. “Our primary goal at DSA is therefore to engage with industry toward taking these strategic initiatives forward,” Rylands concludes.