A domestic firearms manufacturing company based in Turkey's Black Sea province of Trabzon signed an agreement Tuesday with a Malaysian company to jointly produce weapons for Malaysian security forces.
Trabzon Gun Industry Co. (TISAŞ) signed the agreement at Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2019) in Malaysia, the most prominent exhibition of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.
The agreement includes the joint production of Zigana PX-9 type guns together with IDC Technologies Sdn Bhd.
TISAŞ Vice Chairman Abdullah Erdem said that the Zigana PX-9 is a leading model among arms exports from Turkey, adding that they continue producing that model for the use of the Philippines police force.
Erdem said that after the agreement is put into force, Malaysia will be the second country to jointly produce weapons with a Turkish firm.
"These agreements with foreign customers show our country's place in the defense industry while contributing to the national economy," he said.
The Malaysian company will begin undertaking the necessary infrastructure preparation for the production and testing of 20,000 guns per year, a target production number which will be reached once the infrastructure work is complete.
Erdem said that the goal of "our partner company is to meet the needs of the military and police and also to export arms to the countries in the region. Initially, the production will only be made to meet the needs of security forces in their country."
TISAŞ's main products are pistols and weapons that are used by police and army around the world, with Turkey and the U.S. being the company's top purchasers.
