SHAH ALAM: Ketech Asia Sdn Bhd signed another MOU with UAE’s firearms firm – Caracal – for the assembly and manufacturing of the firm’s assault rifle – CAR 816 – in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of the IDEX defence show.
Defence Minister DS Khaled Nordin in his social media post today stated:
This MoU, among other things, open the opportunities for technology transfer, allowing Ketech Asia to assemble critical components of the “CAR 816 assault rifle” at its new facility in Pahang, and to support the needs of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF). It also creates opportunities for the joint development of new weaponry.
This collaboration reflects the capabilities and strengths of local defense companies on a global level. May this strategic collaboration proceed smoothly and benefit the local defense industry, the ATM, and the country.
Berpeluang menyaksikan Majlis Penandatangan Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) antara CARACAL, sebuah syarikat UAE yang berpangkalan di Abu Dhabi di bawah EDGE Group, dan syarikat tempatan, Ketech Asia pada hari kedua IDEX dan NAVDEX 2025.
CARACAL adalah sebuah syarikat yang… pic.twitter.com/UpjM0DA5Yu
— Khaled Nordin
(@KhaledNordin) February 19, 2025
As the MOU is not legally binding we will have to see whether this will lead to a contract as Malaysian Defence has been alluding to since LIMA 2023. The standard AR of MAF is the Colt M4A1 Carbine.
The release from Edge – the parent company of Caracal.
CARACAL, a regional leader in high-performance small arms within EDGE, one of the world’s leading advanced technology and defence groups, signed an agreement today with Ketech Asia, an advanced ammunition producer and small arms solutions provider, for the assembly and manufacturing of CARACAL’s CAR 816 assault rifle in Malaysia.
Following a reseller agreement in 2023, Ketech Asia will now manufacture key components of the CAR 816 at their recently opened factory in Pahang, Malaysia. Signed at the International Defence Exhibition & Conference 2025 (IDEX 2025), the latest agreement marks a significant milestone in EDGE’s commitment to supporting modernisation initiatives within Southeast Asia through developing mutually beneficial partnerships with local industry.
The CAR 816 is a high-performance, mission-proven assault rifle chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. Operating on an adjustable short-stroke gas piston system, the CAR 816 is offered in multiple barrel lengths and supports various aftermarket attachments.
Ketech Asia factory – at least the ammo one – was opened by Sultan Pahang on February 6.
Malaysian Defence was told that there are no plans to buy a new standard assault rifles for the Armed Forces soon. The money is better used for other things, I was told. How much does it cost to change the standard assault rifle for MAF? A single LCS.
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” The money is better used for other things, I was told. How much does it cost to change the standard assault rifle for MAF? A single LCS ”
I concur, with the current world outlook, that kind of money is better used for things that can deal with our current defence predicament, pushing back the 9-dash line.
Just purchase in small quantities for special forces use first
“How much does it cost to change the standard assault rifle for MAF?”
With the current spirit of things, who knows, maybe we can lease it instead.
Have our armed forces complete the changeover to M4? I seen some still with antiquated M16, even Askar Wataniah. Perhaps a new weapon might be a good thing to push the M4 into reserves and finally putting out M16 to pastures.
All of the regulars units are using M4A1 Carbines, it is normal for Wataniah to use the older guns.
Don’t you think there’s more than enough assault rifles as it is? The clear and present danger is now SCS and will be so for years to come and hopefully somebody up there do something positive about it urgently like building more (large) patrol vessels for both MMEA and RMN.
On a technical POV I see there are merits of Car816 over M4. So anything that can improve our guys Im all for it.
“maybe we can lease it instead”
yeah, lease 15 years,6 LCS.
M16A1 lives on with Wataniah & Ceremonials.
Even the Steyr AUG1 are still kept in the depots for emergencies.
There is zero valid reason to replace the M4 right now with CAR816
It is almost the same thing, shoots the same bullets, and in the hands of an average soldier, kills the enemy just the same.
The only reason is to waste defence budget paying for something that would not have any big effect to our defence capability. Spending tons of money on CAR816 wouldn’t suddenly make us much more capable in countering adversary naval forces in the south china sea. Unlike getting additional submarine for the money.
Please put priority on the survival of the country first before lining your own pockets.
Not necessary change all at once,like haiqal points out ATM should change in stages,these piston action rifle can fires when submerged.
Slowly and steadly be it ATM or PDRM all either uses M4A1 derivetives or CAR816,with M16a1 AUG either sold to 3rd world countries or put to storages.
USD400 million
a) buy 1x gowind to have more frigates in TLDM fleet
b) buy CAR816 replacing existing still usable and functional M4
which spending will actually upgrade and increase the overall capability of our defence??
Which one is just a waste of valuable budget?
Not only are piston drivens more hardier to environment but much more robust as well. While not a direct comparison, USArmy did a comparo of SCARL(piston blowback) with M4 and found it did 200+ stoppages vs 800+ for M4. On a basic grunt level, they will be much grateful from a more reliable weapon.
In the end, US Army did not adopt the SCAR-L (same bullet 5.56 as M4) as the killing power, performance, reliability is too insignificant in improvement when compared to the M4
Those 800+ stoppages are accrued over 60,000+ rounds shot (in cold conditions). A normal soldier would only shoot like 10 magazines worth of bullets (300rounds) in like a 5 day mission.
https://www.sandboxx.us/news/this-is-why-the-scar-mk16-rifle-never-became-a-special-operations-weapon/
SCARL was just for comparison between piston AR type & DI M4, because its the closest relevant data. I very well aware that SCARL wasnt fully adopted but that doesnt mean the US Army rejected the idea of piston driven as their next M4 replacement the M7 is also piston based.
60000 shots is due to US Army competition requirements. Some atas manufacturers like SIG proof test batch rifles to 100k. Whether its 300 rounds or 60000 rounds, a lower incident means statistically its less likely to fail to shoot and to a soldier he will want every shot to count.
M4 failures are all documented and most are extremely easy for the individual soldier to solve. So that is not a big issue whatsoever. A big reason why those failures are not a cause for US Army to replace the M4 with something like SCAR-L
Replacing M4 with M7 on the other hand is a worthwhile endeavour because it actually increases the lethality of individual soldiers using M7 versus the current M4 (bigger stopping power, longer ranges because of the bigger 6.8x51mm FURY ammo and higher gas pressure of the gun itself)
There is minimal lethality difference between a CAR816 and M4 (same 5.56x45mm NATO bullet) , so why bother spending USD400 million on replacing a weapon with something that performs with almost no difference at all?
USD400 million can get Frigates, MERAD, Shore-based Anti-ship missile batteries, many2 other weapons that will actually significantly upgrades the military capability of malaysia.
I am against spending so much just for “Gucci” and “hollywood” effect.
Even if its extremely easy to solve (not always actually) you wouldnt want it to fail during a firefight. A 4x better reliability meant your 4x less likely to fail, means your less likely to be out of action and not die, that you can only fail once.
Not to say I didnt agree, yes spending money now to change just when we have finally armed all to M4 doesnt make financial sense. But again I can see the technical merit to change if we have to change it. Thats what Im stating here.
400mil is a lot of money that can go into lotsa things but more likely it will go to our armed forces pencen to support the ever growing ex retirees COLA.
I’m not particularly convinced that stuff being made in limited numbers is more reliable than a mass manufactured one though
Reliability has more to do with its intrinsic design then the manufacturing. If a design has superior reliability then made reliably its more reliable than an unreliable design made in the same line. The unreliability of M4 are well known of course. Then again its not like SMEO has world class manufacturing level to begin with.
Limited numbers not necessarily meant poorer quality. In USA, lotsa match grade AR are made in small numbers.
None of the M4A1 Carbines were really manufactured in Malaysia, if there was any kind of local work, it will be just assembly.