Unlike Malaysian companies seeking defense contracts, Mindmatics is not owned or led by former senior military officers.
Its two founding directors and co-owners have backgrounds in information technology and project management. Founded in 2001, the company majored in C4ISR solutions until in recent years it has branched out into defense hardware such as antennas, coast surveillance radars and electric drones.
Account Director Azman Ahmed told Asian Military Review The company’s first defense contract began in 2009 to provide electronic intelligence support to the Malaysian Ministry of Defense. It was followed by tactical electronic warfare systems for the military, before Mindmatics won the first of three cybersecurity contracts in 2015.
At DSA, Mindmatics demonstrated a passive emitter tracking system called Tedung, which has a line-of-sight range of up to 500 kilometers; a radar Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system called Kurita, which provides early warning of incoming threats to ships ; an X-band coastal surveillance radar called Camar; and an electric drone called Helang, a VTOL design with multi-mission applications. It first flew last June and has a battery life of four hours.
Mindmatics also offers a custom housing system called Prima for housing command and control functions; a cell phone detection system called Bee designed for border security in high-risk areas where criminals or migrants illegally cross the border illegally; and satellite monitoring System (SMS).
Mindmatics funds all of its own research and development, Azman said. Located in Kajang, Selangor, 90% of its approximately 100 employees are made up of engineers.
Chris Pocock
