KUALA LUMPUR: Airbus SE reaffirms its support to Malaysia's space ecosystem with MEASAT-3d, a new multi-mission telecommunications satellite, slated to be launched in 2022.
The European multinational aerospace corporation said MEASAT Global Bhd had appointed Airbus to build MEASAT-3d to replace capacity and augment its core business in Malaysia, Asia, Middle East and Africa, supporting Asia's premium DTH (direct to home) video distribution.
Airbus Defence and Space Southeast Asia (SEA) head Johan Pelissier said the company remains focused on further developing its presence in Malaysia through both industrial collaboration programme (ICP) and extensive defence-space offering.
"We look forward to enhancing our existing partnership in defence and military fixed-wing, where it makes sense, to help Malaysia establish self-sustaining maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operation and develop higher-level engineering capability to support complex MRO across different aircraft platforms," he said at a virtual conference with selected media here today.
Planned to be operational more than 15 years, MEASAT-3d is based on Airbus' proven and highly reliable Eurostar E3000 satellite platform.
MEASAT-3d will provide C and Ku-bands capacity for DTH, video distribution and telecommunication services.
The new HTS Ka-band mission features multiple user spot beams optimised to deliver high-speed broadband communications over Malaysia to bridge the digital divide in the country.
Pelissier said Airbus would also consider supporting Malaysia to build the country's space capability via its Pléiades Neo satellite for the earth observation domain.
"We believe this service could be of interest to the Malaysian Space Agency. Pléiades Neo offers high-resolution optical imagery for various vertical markets like agricultural mapping, oil and gas and maritime surveillance.
"We look forward to building more space capability in Malaysia to develop the space ecosystem. The next step for us to develop further the space ecosystem, which is an area that we look forward with high interest beyond defence," he said.
Pelissier said Airbus had also confirmed its participation in tendering for the Malaysian Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) requirement, leveraging on the proven track record of the C-295 twin-turboprop tactical military transport aircraft, with a combination of value and capability.
"It is a proven aircraft programme and a global reference in maritime surveillance. This aircraft offers the lowest risks and best acquisition operating and life-cycle cost in its category," he said.
Pelissier said Airbus had seen stronger demand for its defence space globally as its platform had been extensively used to transport of patients and goods in various areas.
"We still do see strong demand in terms of local involvement in aerospace and we are willing to continue our engagement to support various ecosystem in Malaysia," he said.
Malaysia country head Raymond Lim said Airbus would ride on a strong industrial footprint in Malaysia, leveraging on the opportunities and resources it had built over the years, to continue investing in the country.
"We look forward to new opportunities from the government in the defence segment. There is always interest from the government in terms of assets that they operate," he said.
Lim said Airbus has recognised Malaysia as a key partner to bring life to its vision of zero-emission aviation by partnering with the Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) past nine years for the aviation sustainable programme.
"We have a strong emphasis on exploration of potential biomass as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel.
"With large renewable resources reservoir and long-presence in the energy market, Malaysia is positioning itself as the potential leader for the rapidly developing hydrogen market," he said, adding that Airbus would support the country developing a more sustainable ecosystem that could involve hydrogen technology.
This is in line with Airbus' ambition to lead decarbonisation of the aerospace sector with the use of hydrogen as the primary power source for commercial aircraft by 2035.
"We look at a few concepts currently with new technology. We will make the final decision in two to three years (2024-2025) and launch the programme between 2026 and 2028," he said