The upcoming defence exhibition is set to highlight homegrown technology, veteran integration, and ASEAN-led security cooperation as key national strategies.
KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Services Asia 2026 (DSA 2026) is shaping up as something more than just another exhibition. It is becoming a stage, a deliberate, strategic platform for putting Malaysia’s homegrown defence technology on the global map.
Beneath the surface is a more determined ambition to push towards true self-reliance and build genuine industrial capability.
Dr Brice Tseen Fu Lee, a Bruneian senior researcher at the Faculty of Government, Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile), sees the shift clearly.
He said the government has signaled a clear intent for this year’s edition to highlight Malaysian firms developing indigenous technologies, including those born from partnerships that go beyond optics, ones built on genuine technology transfer and real, homegrown innovation.
“This aligns with Malaysia’s National Defence Industry Policy, which calls for at least 30 per cent local content in procurements, local maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) after warranty periods, and stronger research and development collaboration.
“DSA 2026 is not just an exhibition. It is a stepping stone for Malaysia to move from subcontracting to co-development and production, reducing long-term dependence on foreign technology,” he told Bernama.
On the regional front, he believes that Malaysia is also leveraging DSA 2026 to reinforce ASEAN solidarity by promoting an inclusive and non-aligned approach to security cooperation.
This positioning, he says, reflects ASEAN principles of dialogue and neutrality, which are expected to address shared challenges such as piracy, terrorism, cybersecurity and humanitarian crises.
“DSA allows Malaysia to host multiple partners simultaneously, maintain engagement with competing powers, and anchor discussions within ASEAN’s framework of cooperation,” he explained.
Amid intensifying global rivalry, Lee added that defence exhibitions like DSA have become more than just marketplaces for buying and selling hardware.
They have transformed into arenas where something more delicate is negotiated: influence that is not secured through procurement alone, but earned through long-term capability development.
He noted that modern defence partnerships are no longer defined by who sells the shiniest weapon, suggesting that they have instead turned on a more meaningful willingness to support industrial growth with technology transfer and capacity-building.
“Strategic autonomy does not come from buying more weapons alone. It comes from the ability to maintain, adapt and gradually produce capabilities domestically,” he said, citing Malaysia’s growing defence ties with Turkiye as an example of collaboration focused on industrial development.
Collins Chong Yew Keat, a Foreign Affairs, Security and Strategy Analyst from Universiti Malaya, said DSA 2026 carries a purpose that goes beyond the exhibition floor. It is also positioned to strengthen Malaysia’s defence ecosystem by investing in people, not just hardware.
He said contractors within the defence ecosystem carry a responsibility to provide employment and meaningful training for armed forces veterans, through work-based learning and readiness-to-work programmes.
“This is where the event becomes much more than a procurement showcase and hard assets alone. It must also build talent pipelines, creating exposure for younger engineers, innovators and local technology firms, outlining exactly how a serious defence ecosystem has to mature,” he emphasised.
Chong added that this requires a whole-of-nation approach, one that integrates industries, academia, research institutions, civil society, government agencies, and emerging talent groups as a single fabric.
He said veterans remain a strategic asset. Their expertise, he argued, should be retained within the national ecosystem, trusted through roles as technicians, operators, trainers, logisticians, and security professionals.
He added that such an approach would do more than strengthen domestic industries. It would also build pathways for younger generations to step into critical sectors, carrying forward what veterans helped secure.
“The DSA 2026 must build on that long-term, integrated and synergised premise, to turn defence into a full-spectrum national capability based on talent retention and advancement.
“This will provide long-term buffers, agility, adaptability and resilience that will form a much more dependable shield against external volatility in supply chains and disruptions,” he concluded.
