Kuala Lumpur, Apr 18 (IANS): Over 1,000 defence industries players, including big names like Airbus and BAE Systems, are participating in the Defence Services Asia (DSA) exhibition which opened here on Monday.

Bell Helicopter, SAAB and Thales are also among the 1,200 companies from 60 countries to showcase static equipment of weapons and defence technology, weaponry systems and generic security solutions in the four-day exhibition, Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 29 countries participate in the exhibition in the form of group pavilion, including Australian, China, Britain and the US.

In China's pavilion, Poly Technologies, China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation and CETC International bring their latest products to the expo.

This year's DSA is expected to be the biggest one since its inauguration 28 years ago, according to Malaysia's Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

A series of security dialogues and forums on topics including cyber security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief will be held alongside the expo.