Unusually for a Malaysian company seeking defence contracts, Mindmatics is not owned or headed by former senior military officers.
Its two founding directors and co-owners have a background in information technology and project management. Formed in 2001, the company majored in C4ISR solutions until recent years, when it diversified into defence hardware such as antennas, coastal surveillance radars and an electric-powered UAV.
Account director Azman Ahmad told Asian Military Review that the company’s first defence contract was for electronic intelligence support to the Malaysian Ministry of Defence starting in 2009. A tactical electronic warfare system for the army followed, before Mindmatics won the first of three cyber security contracts in 2015.
At DSA, Mindmatics is showing a passive emitter tracking system named Tedung, with a range of up to 500km line-of-sight; a radar electronic support measures (ESM) system named Kurita to provide ships with early warning of incoming threats; an X-band coastal surveillance radar named Camar; and the electric UAV which is named Helang, a VTOL design which has multi-mission applications. It first flew in June of last year, and has a four-hour endurance.
Mindmatics also offers a customised shelter system named Prima for housing command and control functions; a cellular phone detection system named Bee which is designed for border security in areas with a high risk of illegal crossings by criminals or immigrants; and a satellite monitoring system (SMS).
Azman said that Mindmatics funds all of its own R&D. It is based in Kajang, Selangor, where 90 percent of its workforce of about 100 is composed of engineers.
by Chris Pocock
