A Malaysian firm launched the country's first homegrown light armoured vehicle today, with plans to export the fighting machine to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The Deftech AV4 is designed and built by Deftech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of conglomerate DRB-Hicom Bhd, which supplies vehicles to the Malaysian armed forces.

Deftech's marketing chief Godfrey Chang said the diesel-powered armoured vehicle with a maximum speed of 110 km per hour was built with the help of foreign partners.

"It is a purely Malaysian product with some foreign expertise in areas such as communications, weapons and engine," he told reporters at a defence exhibition outside Kuala Lumpur.

Military show

"We are looking to sell the vehicle to the Malaysian army, Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East," he said.

Chang said that a demonstration for the Malaysian military would be conducted next month at the military training school in Port Dickson, south of Kuala Lumpur.

Some 560 companies including BAE Systems Plc. from Britain, Sukhoi Co from Russia and Thales Group from France are participating in the four-day military show.