Soldier numbers freeze frees funds for weapons: Minister

The government’s move to freeze the number of soldiers in the military has already freed up more funds to be spent on weaponry.

“Currently, non-personnel expenditure is 60 percent; which means we will have more to spend on weaponry,” Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Wednesday on the sidelines of a meeting with legislators at the House of Representatives.

The current ceiling for the defense budget is Rp 61 trillion (approximately US$7.1 billion), Purnomo said.

According to him, the meeting was on ways that the defense industry could improve the military’s weaponry.

“We realize that we cannot be 100 percent [dependent on] local [products], so we can do joint production, transfer of technology…” Purnomo said.

The meeting was attended by directors of weaponry producers, including PT Pindad, and other companies such as shipbuilder PT PAL.