SHAH ALAM: The 20 Nurol Makina Panthera armoured 4X4s for the Malaysian contingent in Lubnan is expected to be operational in April. This is following their pre-delivery inspection and acceptance tests to be conducted early this month, Defence Minister DS Khaled Nordin said in a written response in Parliament on March 4.

He was answering questions from DS Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz – the Tanah Merah MP – who asked the minister on the plan to scrap the nine IAG Guardian armoured 4X4 – supplied in 2018 – as it did not meet UN requirements and resulted in the procurement 20 Pantheras. Ikmal was the former deputy defence minister in the two previous administrations.

Khaled said there was no plan to scrap the Guardians. “The vehicles are still considered Contingent Own Equipment and was approved for use by the Malbattt under Unifil.
Even though the vehicle did not comply fully with UN specifications, Unifil accepted its service and any issues regarding the procurement of the vehicles had been answered in the Auditor General’s report in 2020.”

Khaled said the Guardians were procured in 2018 to replace nine obsolete Radpanzer Condor which had served for more than 40 years.
“There is no truth that the Pantheras were procured to replaced the Guardians. Malbatt with Joint Force Command and the Defence Ministry is in the process of scrapping 20 Condors which are still operational with the unit and these are the vehicles that will be replaced by the Pantheras procured from Turkiye. The Pantheras are expected to become operational this April after undergoing pre-delivery inspection this month.”

As reported previously, the Pantheras were expected to be delivered to Lebanon last year but it was delayed due to difficulties met by the manufacturers. I have been told that the Pantheras has been delivered to Lebanon already but documentation issues is delaying its entry into service with Malbatt 850-11.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces confirmed today that a Cendana Auto FFR from Malbatt 850-11 was detained a group of Lebanese on February 29. It stated that vehicle was part of a two-vehicle convoy which was driving to an area near the Rafik Hariri international airport in Beirut.

Due to heavy traffic, the vehicles were separated and the FFR vehicle went into another road before they were stopped by a group of people. The group then detained the soldiers and conducted an inspection of the FFR and took videos of inside the vehicle. The soldiers and their vehicle were released shortly without any harm or damages. A report was lodged with the Lebanese Armed Forces.

According to a report in a Lebanese media, the people who detained the Malbatt soldiers were unhappy with their presence in their area and searched the vehicle for cameras and other recording equipment. Ironically, the Lebanese also took video footages of the FFR vehicle. It must be noted that Malaysian Defence had reported that the Lebanese aversion to cameras as the reason it was decided that the Guardians were not to be equipped with a RWS. The Pantheras however are equipped with a RWS on each vehicle as the AG report that these would be life savers during combat situation.

— Malaysian Defence

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