Indonesia to acquire two more amphibious landing ships.

Indonesia's Ministry of Defence recently awarded an IDR 360 billion (US$ 25 million) contract to supply the Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) with two more landing ship tanks (LSTs). Those two vessels are to be built by Indonesian shipbuilder PT Bandar Abadi.

KRI Teluk Bintuni, the first Landing Ship Tank (LST) of the Teluk Bintuni-class during its sea trials (Picture Source: PT Daya Radar Utama)

The vessels will be the eighth and ninth ships of the Teluk Bintuni-class and will mainly be used as amphibious transport vessels for the TNI's amphibious armoured vehicles, such as the BMP-3F infantry fighting vehicles. It can actually carry and launch up to 15 BMP-3F vehicles from a roll-on/roll-off ramp located at its bow. As a reminder, the BMP-3 is a Soviet and Russian infantry vehicle, the successor of the BMP-1 and BMP-2 and the abbreviation BMP stands for "Boevaya Mashina Pehoty" which means "Infantry Combat Vehicle" in English. The "F" variant has been specially designed for amphibious operations and is capable of moving afloat at sea state 3 and of firing with the required accuracy at sea state 2.

Such LSTs are also capable of accommodating and deploying a 10-tonne helicopter from its flight deck. And such vessels are armed with up to two 40mm naval guns on the foredeck and some 12.7mm machine guns on different parts of the whole ship.

The length of the LST is of 120m, as its beam is of 18m. It is powered by two diesel engines and can reach speeds up to 16 knots. Its cruise speed is of 12 knots and by maintaining this speed, the vessel can reach standard ranges of 7.200 nautic miles (16.000 km).

Both vessels, KRI AT-8 and KRI AT-9 (with AT standing for "Angkut Tank", which means "Tank Transport" in English) will be closely similar to the previous ones that were under construction at PT Daya Radar Utama. Though, some improvements or variances will be made, in order to satisfy the customer's needs.