Indonesian army considers the German Leopard 2A2 main battle tank as the best offer 1003121.

Defense News - Indonesia

He said Germany not only offered the transfer-of-technology but also the possibility of joint production in which state-owned arms manufacturers PT Pindad could make some parts for the 60-ton tank.

The Germans, he said, even challenged the readiness of domestic defense industries because good preparation was needed to maintain high-technology systems and it took long time to master them.

“We cannot produce it [the MBT] in three years. The technology isn’t simple,” he said, admitting that the service would also buy the MBTs from Germany.

The Indonesian Army said it needed to modernize its weapons systems with MBTs because it only had light tanks such as the British-made Scorpion and French-made AMX13, which weighed 8 and 14 tons respectively.

Initially, Indonesia planned to buy German-made MBTs at a discounted price as the Dutch government was implementing harsh defense budget cutbacks that included disbanding its armored divisions in the wake of the economic downturn in Europe.

The plan was to buy 50 units of the 2A4 and another 50 units of the 2A6 variants of the MBT at a total price of US$280 including the cost of upgrading the A4 variant to the A6 standard.