Indonesia takes delivery first Leopard 2A4 tanks and Marder armoured vehicles from Germany 2509133.

Defence & Security News - Indonesia

Budiman said he was happy with the arrival of the four combat vehicles, which would be used to strengthen Indonesia’s artillery capacity.

“All the tanks purchased are fully functional,” said Budiman.

The Army, he said, now not only had combat tanks but also tanks that offered special functions, such as excavating, bulldozing and minesweeping, as well as support facilities for detachments of army engineers.

The shipping of the German-made was initially scheduled to take place in October. Now, however, the Army plans to exhibit and involve the four tanks in celebrations to mark the 68th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Oct. 5.

It was previously reported that the Defense Ministry had bought 153 tanks worth US$280 million from the German government, comprising 61 Leopard Ri tanks, 42 Leopard 2A4 tanks and 50 Marder tanks.

The purchase agreement was accompanied by a technology transfer agreement signed by state-owned arms manufacturer PT Pindad and the Army’s central workshop in November 2012. Under the agreement, all staff will receive maintenance and improvement trainings.

Indonesia has never before had sophisticated heavy tanks. All this time, the Army has depended on light combat tanks, such as the British-manufactured Scorpion, the AMX-13 and AMX-10P tanks, which were manufactured during the 1940s and1950s.

The Leopard 2A4 is a German-made main battle tank designed and manufactured by the Company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, the successor of the main battle tank Leopard 1.

The Leopard 2A4 is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore gun which has been developed by Rheinmetall and fires two types of ammunition, APFSDS-T and HEAT-MP-T. The APFSDS-T has an effective range of over 2,000 m and the HEAT-MP-T has a high degree of effectiveness against both soft and hard targets.