Guyana recently took delivery of Metal Shark 115 Defiant patrol boat. (Metal Shark)

Metal Shark is augmenting its footprint in the Caribbean with a recent boat-building contract with Jamaica, and a delivery of a patrol boat to Guyana.

The Louisiana-based shipyard will be building and maintaining 22 Metal Shark 36 Fearless speedboats for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), according to a recent contract between the yard and the JDF, Metal Shark confirmed on 2 May.

The Fearless vessels, acquired via direct purchase, will be operated by the JDF Coast Guard, the shipyard said. The Fearless has a length of 11 m, a max speed of 55 kt, and comes equipped with a Furuno navigation package with radar, a FLIR thermal imaging camera, and Ullman shock-mitigating seating, according to Metal Shark's release.

The fleet of new boats will assist the coastguard with “law enforcement, patrolling, and interdiction missions within Jamaica's exclusive economic zone”, the company said.

For more information on Jamaican defence operations in the region, please seeCaribbean militaries train for Haiti mission .

BrahMos Aerospace showcased a scaled version of the Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet armed with three BrahMos cruise missiles at the DSA 2024 exhibition. (Janes/Kapil Kajal)

BrahMos Aerospace – a joint venture (JV) between India and Russia – has outlined its plans to export its supersonic cruise missiles to Southeast Asian countries at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2024 exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 9 May.

Speaking with Janes at the show, a spokesperson for BrahMos Aerospace said the company has offered its cruise missiles to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

“We [BrahMos Aerospace] are in talks with all these countries, and they have shown good interest in the missile,” the spokesperson added.

Janes understands that Malaysia and Indonesia are looking to procure air-launched variants of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to arm their Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets.

Vietnam plans to procure the shore-based anti-ship missile version of the BrahMos to counter the Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

The spokesperson confirmed that BrahMos Aerospace has initiated the delivery of the BrahMos system to the Philippines.

MBDA showcased the scale models of its Enhanced Modular Air Defence Solutions and VL MICA New Generation system at the DSA 2024 exhibition. (Janes/Kapil Kajal)

European missile maker MBDA has offered its Enhanced Modular Air Defence Solutions (EMADS) self-propelled surface-to-air missile (SAM) system and VL MICA New Generation (NG) SAM to the Malaysian Armed Forces, a spokesperson of MBDA told Janes at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2024 exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 9 May.

“[MBDA has] proposed the systems to the Malaysian Army and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF),” the spokesperson said.

However, it is still unclear when the systems will be tested by these services, the spokesperson added.

The Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) seeks to procure a short-range air-defence (SHORAD) system as a part of the 12th Malaysia Plan, which runs from 2021 to 2025.

Both the EMADS and VL MICA are short- to medium-range air-defence systems developed and are primarily intended for defending ground formations or static assets against common aerial threats such as fighter and multirole aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and cruise missiles, according to the spokesperson.

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