We want to go straight at defence. Why start commercial?

Because the defence door opens faster for a vendor with something running in the region already. Programme procurement here is slow, offset-driven and routed through local primes, and a foreign vendor with no regional footprint starts a long way back in that queue. A commercial deployment is a credential you can earn this year.

Can you handle export control and licensing?

No, and you should be wary of anyone who says they can. That is a question for your counsel and your export authority. What we do is make sure the market plan reflects the answer, so you are not spending months on a market you cannot ship to.

Do we need a local partner?

For anything government-linked, almost certainly. For commercial deals it depends on the buyer and whether they need local support. That is why the Market Opening shortlists partners before it books meetings: the decision comes first, and the wrong partner is expensive to unwind.

The Test has one fixed price, shown above, credited in full if you continue. The Market Opening is a fixed fee for ninety days, quoted after a short call, and often grant-fundable through your home country's export scheme. Every term is on the services page.

How long before we see anything?

On the commercial side, the Test gives you a straight read inside thirty days. Programme-side timelines run to the procurement calendar and are measured in years, not quarters. This is the slowest sector we work in and we would rather set that expectation now.

For dual-use technology vendors

We open Asia's civil anddefence doors.

Two markets, two buying cultures. Your technology sells to a commercial operator in months and to a defence programme in years. Both are worth having, and most vendors entering Asia pick the wrong one to start with and lose eighteen months finding out.

Book a 20-minute chat Get the free Mini-GTM Paper

Start civil. The other door opens slower.

The commercial side of a dual-use product behaves like any other enterprise sale: a port, a utility, an airport or an operator has a problem, a budget and a decision they can make this year. That is where a first reference in the region is realistically won.

Government and defence programmes in Asia are gated differently. They are offset-driven, they run through local primes and agents, and the calendar is set by procurement programmes rather than by your pipeline. That market is real and it is worth entering, but it is not where a vendor with no regional reference starts.

Who actually signs

The roles we target on both paths. The commercial buyer can decide alone; the programme side almost never can, which is the single biggest difference between the two motions.

Programme director
Head of procurement
Regulator or agency lead
Prime contractor partnership lead

What it actually takes

A civil reference is what unlocks the government one
Agencies here are conservative buyers and want to see the technology working somewhere before it appears in a programme. A commercial deployment in the region is worth more as a defence credential than any amount of capability marketing, and it is reachable this year rather than in three.
Nothing moves without a local prime or agent
Government-linked procurement in this region generally runs through a local entity, and offset expectations are real. Choosing that partner is the first strategic decision, not an administrative one, and the wrong one is very hard to unwind.
Export control shapes the pipeline, so map it first
What you can ship, to whom, and under what licence determines which markets are worth working at all. That is your counsel's call rather than ours, but it belongs at the start of a market plan, not after the first meeting has gone well.

Where these buyers gather. We work the ones that matter for your segment:

Drones & Uncrewed Asia · Singapore
IMDEX Asia · Singapore · biennial, odd years
Safety & Security Asia (SSA) · Singapore
Singapore Airshow · Singapore · biennial, even years
CyberDSA (Cyber Digital Services, Defence & Security Asia) · Malaysia
DSA & NATSEC Asia · Malaysia · biennial, even years
LIMA (Langkawi Maritime & Aerospace) · Malaysia · biennial, odd years
Indo Defence Expo & Forum · Indonesia · biennial, odd years
Defense & Security Thailand (DST) · Thailand · biennial, odd years
ADAS (Asian Defense and Security) · Philippines
Build4Asia · Hong Kong
DSEI Japan · Japan · biennial, odd years

And 16 more across Asia on our event radar.

Our clients meet companies like:

Reached through the network, not a mailbox.

Ecosystems engaged through client missions, not Transform Asia clients.

What this looks like as an engagement

On the commercial path the engagement is a team opening doors and holding the deal together, and the Test shows you in a month whether those doors open. On the government path the first thing you need is the right local partner, which the Market Opening shortlists and meets in person.

A named Senior and a named Junior on every account, introduced before you sign. The Market Opening is often grant-fundable through your home country's export scheme.

Ten commercial operators or programme-side decision-makers you choose, approached by your Senior across Asia within 30 days. Then a straight go or no-go.

Get the free Mini-GTM Paper

Eighteen questions, about four minutes, your sector already filled in. It scores twelve markets against your answers and names the one engagement that fits, with the reasoning.

Dual-use systems in Asia, answered

The questions dual-use technology vendors selling civil and government applications in asia ask before they get in touch.

Let's talk about your pipeline in Asia

Pick a time now

Twenty minutes, no deck. You leave with the accounts we would go after first.

Or write to us

Write to us about your pipeline in Asia.