CAE, Montreal, established CAE Singapore operations to serve the military market in Singapore and throughout Southeast Asia. Also, in a bid to expand in Southeast Asia, the company signed an agreement to acquire KESTREL Technologies Pte Ltd., a technology and services company based in Singapore; the transaction is expected to close this month. "Singapore has earned its global reputation as a country at the forefront of technology and innovation, and Singapore’s Ministry of Defence is a leading advocate in the use of simulation-based training to ensure mission readiness," said Marc Parent, CAE’s group president, Simulation Products and Military Training & Services. "By establishing CAE Singapore, we will create a regional modelling and simulation centre of excellence, and consolidate CAE’s local Singaporean presence with a strategic view to expand and better serve the military markets in the Southeast Asia region." KESTREL provides consulting and professional services, and provides simulator maintenance and technical support services on behalf of CAE on Super Puma and CH-47 Chinook full-mission helicopter simulators operated by the Republic of Singapore Air Force. CAE Singapore will now expand on these service offerings to include program management, systems and software engineering, and research and development. In addition, CAE Singapore will now focus on new market segments such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS), network centric warfare, common databases and distributed mission training, the company said.