Singapore: Bell Helicopter, a US-based commercial and military helicopter

manufacturer, plans to strengthen and expand its presence in Southeast Asia including Malaysia
from this year onwards. Bell Helicopter Asia (Pte) Ltd managing director in Asia Pacific
Sameer Rehman said the company is looking to sell a couple of its helicopter models to the
private companies and military authorities in Malaysia as part of their fleet refurbishment or
renewal plan. The models include the new Bell 525 Relentless, Bell 505 Jet Ranger X and Bell
429 Global Ranger.

"Our intent in 2018 and beyond is to find a way to grow the market in Malaysia. We
have been doing business with Malaysia for over 20 years. We were very successful in the first
sale of Bell 505 in Malaysia," Sameer told NST Business in an interview during the Singapore
Airshow 2018 recently. For the Malaysian market, Bell Helicopter is interested to sell the Bell
525 to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) as well as the Bell 505, which
can be used for transportation, military training as well as emergency medical services (EMS).

Sameer said the Bell 525, once certified, will be the world’s most advanced super
medium fly-by-wire helicopter that would be an advantage for Malaysia to protect its vast
landscape and territory. “As the MMEA recognises the geopolitical situation brought on the
Peninsular and on Borneo, we want to find a way to enhance their capability by offering them
the Bell 525,” he said, adding that Bell Helicopter also plans to sell the 429 model to MMEA.

He said the Bell 429 model has found success with various police agencies worldwide
such as the New York Police Department, the Turkish National Police, the Swedish National
Police, the Royal Thai Police, the Philippine National Police and the Indonesian National
Police. The current Bell Helicopter models that are being used in Malaysia include the Bell
206, Bell 407 and Bell 429. The Bell 429 is being used by PLUS Helicopter Services Sdn Bhd.

Sameer said there is a huge growth opportunity for Bell Helicopter in Southeast Asia
as the countries gear up to place regulations to support their para-public and paramilitary space.
Besides protecting the land and water territories, Sameer said the Southeast Asian countries
such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are expanding its network of disaster assistance
and recovery as well as helicopter EMS.
 Sameer said that he believes governments are spending more money on para-public and
paramilitary type of campaigns to help their citizens. We are fraught with natural disasters like
flood, typhoon, earthquake and volcano eruption. So, helicopters come into big focus during
time of need. Governments have recognized the EMS – that will continue to be the focus for
Bell Helicopter moving forward. Adding that Bell Helicopter would offer training and services
to Malaysia when the country starts developing the EMS market.

Bell Helicopter currently has a service centre in Singapore and its maintenance team
travels to its clients in Asia Pacific. The company also has partnership with authorised third
party in various countries in the region to service its helicopters. Meanwhile, Bell Helicopter
Asia (Pte) Ltd general manager Chris Schaefer said currently the company’s clients in Malaysia
are supported by the service centre in Singapore although there are future plans to open a new
centre in Malaysia or partner with an authorised third-party maintenance centre. He said right
now from the economies of scale perspective, it makes more sense to combine those resources
in Singapore and then support the Malaysian customers. Adding that Bell Helicopter has 14,000
parts kept in Singapore worth some US$36 million.