The Weststar Group – Weststar, RTI Venture Targets RM42B

Part­ner­ship aims to develop aerospace, defence cap­ab­il­it­ies with Aus­sie firm

The West­star Group has partnered with Rocket Tech­no­lo­gies Inter­na­tional Pty Ltd (RTI) in a joint ven­ture (JV) that is expec­ted to unlock com­mer­cial oppor­tun­it­ies worth more than RM42 bil­lion.

The part­ner­ship, through West­star Defence Indus­tries Sdn Bhd, will see the two com­pan­ies estab­lish JV entit­ies in Malay­sia and Aus­tralia to develop sov­er­eign aerospace and defence cap­ab­il­it­ies, deep­en­ing bilat­eral cooper­a­tion in advanced tech­no­lo­gies while sup­port­ing longterm indus­trial and eco­nomic growth.

The JV agree­ment (JVA) was signed by The West­star Group founder and group man­aging dir­ector Tan Sri Dr Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim and RTI founder Allan James Payne at the National Con­ven­tion Centre in Can­berra.

The sign­ing was wit­nessed by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Dr Johari Abdul, Defence Min­is­ter Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nor­din and High Com­mis­sioner to Aus­tralia Datin Paduka Shar­rina Abdul­lah.

Syed Azman said: “This Joint Ven­ture Agree­ment reflects a long-term com­mit­ment towards build­ing sov­er­eign aerospace and defence cap­ab­il­it­ies, cre­at­ing high-value indus­tries and strength­en­ing tech­no­lo­gical col­lab­or­a­tion between Malay­sia and Aus­tralia.”

Under the agree­ment, the parties will focus on the man­u­fac­tur­ing and assembly of integ­rated defence sys­tems, civil­ian satel­lite plat­forms and spe­cial­ised gov­ern­ment satel­lite solu­tions with local design and con­tent. They will also provide rocket test­ing, cer­ti­fic­a­tion and main­ten­ance, repair and over­haul ser­vices, while devel­op­ing orbital and sub-orbital launch cap­ab­il­it­ies.

The part­ner­ship will also sup­port work­force devel­op­ment through tech­nical edu­ca­tion, industry train­ing and research and devel­op­ment part­ner­ships with aerospace and defence uni­versit­ies in Malay­sia and Aus­tralia.

Payne said the part­ner­ship marks an import­ant step in advan­cing regional aerospace and defence innov­a­tion through inter­na­tional col­lab­or­a­tion.

“This part­ner­ship com­bines the indus­trial strengths, expert­ise and long-term vis­ion of both organ­isa­tions to develop advanced sov­er­eign cap­ab­il­it­ies that will sup­port future industry growth, tech­no­logy advance­ment and regional cooper­a­tion between Aus­tralia and Malay­sia.”

The agree­ment aligns with the grow­ing momentum of the Malay­sia-Aus­tralia Com­pre­hens­ive Stra­tegic Part­ner­ship.

The col­lab­or­a­tion is expec­ted to cre­ate new oppor­tun­it­ies for local industry par­ti­cip­a­tion, high-skilled employ­ment, research com­mer­cial­isa­tion and the devel­op­ment of sus­tain­able aerospace and defence eco­sys­tems in both coun­tries.

Source: https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/new-straits-times/20260702/282011859092008