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Interview with Shahrinoldin Othman, Head of R&D and Manufacturing, Cendana Auto

Yulian Ardiansyah - : May 8, 2024 - : 9:25 am

Tell me about Cendana Auto, and the products that you’re featuring here?

Cendana Auto is 100% a local Malaysian company, consisting of a number of engineers from related industries, as well as graduates from various universities and vocational schools in Malaysia. This also includes those who come from similar industries such as Proton, Produa and others.

Founded in 2013, Cendana Auto was initially engaged in vehicle repair. From 2016 to 2019, we started R&D regarding 4×4 vehicles with.

From here we entered the government tender and won it with our 4×4 vehicles such as FFR (Fitted For Radio) or Radio Command Vehicles. 30 units of this vehicle have been produced for the Malaysian delegation of UN peacekeeping forces in Lumnan, Lebanon. 20 units have been sent there since 2021, but although the rest have been handed over to the Malaysian army, they have still not been sent due to the current geopolitical conditions there.

Especially for Malaysia’s domestic needs, 44 units with green paint are currently being used by the Malaysian Army.

As many as 72 units of the mortar transporter version have been delivered and will be completed in 2023.

Heard there will be a repeat order for mortars and there will be additional mortar carriers?

That’s correct. There’s a follow-up contract for 30 additional mortars which will also include an equal number of our mortar carrier vehicles. We are currently finishing our production line for these 30 vehicles which will be delivered before August this year.

Apart from mortar transport vehicles, we have also delivered 49 weapons transport units which can be equipped with manually-operated machine guns, AGL (Automatic Grenade Launcher), and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM).

What can you tell me about your latest development?

These two vehicles we’re bringing here today are our newest vehicles. The black one is called Magatti, which was actually just launched by the Malaysian defense minister earlier this morning. The tan-colored one is a troop transporter called Vektor which was launched by the Chief of the Malaysian Armed Forces, also this morning.

Although there has yet to be an official decision to adopt these two vehicles for the Malaysian Army, we’re ready to test them with their potential buyers if deemed necessary.

What kind of 4×4 vehicle is Magatti?

Magatti is optimistic for special forces operations although it still retains the ability to carry up to 12 infantry. There are also various options like gun mounts for machine guns, and smoke grenade launchers. There are also attachment points for up to four M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapons) for additional firepower. It has a maximum range of 650 kms.

Magatti has been field-tested by some of Malaysia’s premier special force units, so we hope that I will soon join them in active duty officially.

Also, there are a couple of countries who have stated their interests, although we’re still only at discussion level with them.

What’s your take on collaborating with other defence industries in other ASEAN countries, like Chaiseri in Thailand, or PT Pindad in Indonesia?

We’re still a relatively new company, compared to them. So we still need to improve ourselves a lot. Of course, if they’re open for collaboration with us, we’re also willing to do the same with them, especially since those companies are also what we aspire to become.

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