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Indonesian army signed a number of defense contracts with local manufacturers 1003122.
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Defense News - Indonesia |
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| Saturday, March 10, 2012, 02:11 PM | |||
| Indonesian army signed a number of defense contracts with local manufacturers. | |||
The
Indonesian Defense Ministry and the Army signed on Tuesday,March 6, 2012,
a number of defense contracts worth Rp 1.3 trillion with local manufacturers
in an effort to strengthen the domestic defense industry. The contracts
were signed after a meeting on the Defense Industry Policy Committee (KKIP)
at the ministry led by Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro. |
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 The contracts also include the delivery of Bell 412 EP helicopter |
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Attending the meeting were Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Agus Suhartono, National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, Industry Minister MS Hidayat, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan and Research and Technology Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta. The contracts were signed
with both SOEs as well as private firms. The SOEs included arms maker
PT Pindad for armored personnel carriers (APCs), tactical bridges, small-calibre
munitions, rifles and guns; state aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia
(DI) for folding-fin aerial rockets (FFAR), Bell 412 EP assault and
transport helicopters; private shipyard PT Palindo Marine for fast missile
boat KCR-40; privately-owned PT Sari Bahari for P-100 bombs and PT Infra
RCS for Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) radar. “At one stage we depended too much on [overseas suppliers], making us prone to an arms embargo,” he told a press conference after the meeting. “Inline with our free-and-active foreign policy, we have since diversified our sources of weapon systems. However, we want to produce as many weapons systems locally as is possible.” Earlier in May 2011, Purnomo said that Indonesia would be able to locally produce most of its weapon systems by 2030. “The efforts to reach that goal are still ongoing and the KKIP is closely monitoring the progress of our defense industries,” he said. “We, for example, are cooperating with South Korea to build the KFX jet fighter. We are also planning to build a third submarine at home while the first two will be built in South Korea.” |
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 The Defece Company Pindad will also provide 31 Anoas armoured vehicle personnel carrier |
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Both countries signed a contract worth $1.07 billion
on Dec. 10, 2011, for three submarines. Indonesian workers will be involved
in the construction of the first two in Busan, South Korea, so they will
be ready to build the third one at state-owned shipyard PT PAL in Surabaya.
The minister also said that Indonesia was studying a cooperation with China to locally produce the C-705 anti-ship missile which has a range of some 140 kilometers as part of a defense cooperation to fulfill Indonesia’s needs. Separately, Pindad president director Adik Aviantono Soedarsono said the highlight of the contract was the tactical bridge worth Rp 69 billion. “The bridge can be expanded in just two hours to a span of 49 meters, much faster than the Bailey bridge,” he told reporters after the press conference. Pindad will also provide 31 Anoa APCs worth Rp 250 billion. Meanwhile, president director of aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia, Budi Santoso, told The Jakarta Post that his company would supply up to 28 Bell 412 EP helicopters to the Indonesian Army by 2014. “We have several contracts with the Army and have delivered two helicopters out of a contract to provide four helicopters,” he said. “Today we signed a contract to provide eight helicopters in two separate contracts and are ready to sign another for 16 helicopters.” Budi said the helicopters were for both transport and assault missions. |
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