KUALA LUMPUR: Mildef International Technologies Sdn Bhd (Mildef) is committed to expanding the country's technological prowess in producing armoured vehicles.
Its managing director, Datuk Seri Mohd Nizam Kasa, said not only is the company able to maintain about 70 to 80 per cent local production of armoured vehicles, but it is also capable of catering to the requirements of defence stakeholders.
In an interview with the New Straits Times, Nizam said this is in line with the Defence White Paper, which aims to reduce the dependency on foreign countries in the procurement of defence assets.
"Our Tarantula HMAV is the only armoured vehicle that is 70 to 80 per cent made in Malaysia by Malaysians. Even in its design, there is no transfer of technology from other countries.
"Usually, when an armoured vehicle is produced or procured from other countries such as those in Europe, for example, the vehicle is suitable only for them, but not for Malaysia. So the vehicles need to be modified for local usage.
"At Mildef, we manufacture the vehicles based on requirements. This is because each vehicle has its own weapons, self-protection and other systems, and each organisation has different priorities ," he said at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) and National Security (Natsec) Asia 2024 exhibitions here.
Nizam added that the Tarantula, which was first unveiled at DSA 2022, had undergone modifications to fulfil the criteria of the Malaysian army.
"The idea to build the Tarantula came from the Lahad Datu incident, where we realised that we are too dependent on foreign countries for defence assets. So I developed the first version of the Tarantula using a rolling chassis.
"Based on our research, the rolling chassis is popular in Europe and the Middle East. But after a trial session with the army and receiving comments and criticism, we learned that they actually required a monocoque structured vehicle.
"We already had experience with a rolling chassis, so in eight months, we were able to produce a monocoque version," he said.
A monocoque chassis is a structural design principle where the external skin (shell) provides both strength and rigidity to support the vehicle 's load.
A rolling chassis is the skeletal structure of a vehicle onto which other components are added to complete the assembly.
Nizam said Mildef's ability to cater to their clients' needs had also won them customers from Pakistan and the Philippines.
"Apart from the Tarantula, we also have the High Mobility Light Tactical Vehicle (HMLTV). We realised that many military vehicles in the Middle East and South Asia are using a commercial chassis.
"The market for the HMLTV is very broad, as it could be used by special forces, police and others. So we are designing it in both monocoque and rolling chassis.
"For the rolling chassis, we would do a business-to-business deal where we supply the chassis, and clients would design the vehicle themselves. But some countries also prefer us to design for them in the monocoque version," he said.
Mildef is a bumiputera-owned company that carries out maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) works on defence assets owned by the Armed Forces.
It also has the capability and expertise in world-class military communication systems developed to meet the unique needs of national defence forces. Its expertise includes network systems, monitoring systems and computing.