Malaysian Defence

10 Comments

1. I read somewhere claimed that there is more than 100 Weststar GK-M1 in army service. Is that true?

   Reply
   Not sure about the numbers it may well be more than that

2. BTW, congrats army for this new 148 4×4 vehicles especially that weapon carriers. It is important to add more fire power in the service.

3. From Googling they look no more than a vehicles “workshop”.

   From CTOS, they’re listed as 1) MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR OF WEAPONS FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY. 2) DISMANTLING OF AUTOMOBILES, COMPUTERS, TELEVISIONS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT FOR MATERIAL RECOVER. 3) GENERAL TRADING AND SERVICES.

   A press reported Cendana make over RM10 million a year servicing government vehicles back in 2018.

   Even TS Syed Mokthar is featured in their facebook page.

   Good find Mr. Marhalim. 😁

4. The cynic in me questions whether in a few years time; will another player emerge to offer the army yet another design (to add to the mix); how much say the army actually has in selection and why (despite all the clear lessons learnt by others) there is still no urgency to equip some 4x4s with lightweight protection against small rounds/splinters (carriers with direct fire weapons leave crews exposed to return fire).

   The Land Rover is not cheap; requires skilled maintenance crews to keep them running and can’t fulfil various roles but it’s durable and lasts.

5. We know Westar’s GK-M1 is a rebadge Thairung built on Hilux powertrain but what about this Cendana Auto Rover? Do you know what its real origins are from?

   Reply
   No idea, but it is likely they are also using the Hilux power train as it is readily available and cheap

6. @Azlan
   Today Landies are no longer the paramount of reliability, durability and ruggedness of the earlier generations. Nowadays, current Landies are well known for their electrical gremlins and lotsa TLC to keep them in running state.

   Hilux & Land Cruiser are the new standard for 4X4.

7. Talking about ATGM carriers, is there any news about the new medium range ATGMs?

   Reply
   Its likely they will buy new missiles for the METIS-M

8. “Land rover durable and lasts”
   Maybe that was true back then, prior to them being bought over by Tata. Nowadays they’re anything but durable.

9. Ooh so 1 tonnes gs cargo hilux to replace the general purpose landies and this cendana auto 4×4 to replace ffr landies and g wagons..Look alright for me but yes i also wanna know this 4×4 based on what vehicles?..So for atgm carrier, Cendana auto will supply the vehicles and the army will mount/integrate atgm system on them and not buying purposed built atgm carrier like gaz tigr kornet d or pars 4×4 atgm..meaning old and existing atgm will be use?

10. Hafiz – “owadays they’re anything but durable.”

    I have no idea but I’ll take your word for it. I anyhow was referring to to older Defender 110 series which like the models we operated prior to that were made to last. A disadvantage with the Land Rover is that it’s very uncomfortable when off road; compared to Japanese equivalents.

    It’s expected that we’d eventually cease operating Land Rovers; it’s price precludes it from being bought in numbers, it’s harder to maintain compared to what we’re buying now and spares are also not cheap.

    For me it doesn’t matter if we’ve decided to take the cheaper route but the army must have the final say and by going cheaper; we should stick to one type in quantities rather than buying a bit if various things to perform the same roles.

    Reply
    They stopped building the Defenders a few years back already