Govt to seal army weaponry purchase deal

The Defense Ministry says it is in its final stages of processing the procurement of primary defense equipment from a number of European countries.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro says the ministry is currently negotiating with the army on the price, amount and type of equipment to be procured, including whether to go for new or used stock.

“What has been decided is that we will buy a main battle tank, which is a heavy tank,” Purnomo said Thursday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The defense equipment that the government has been targeting, he said, included a Leopard tank from the German army and an Apache helicopter.

However, Purnomo added that a series of considerations would be taken into account before making a decision on the matter.

He said that the government would only buy equipment with a minimum 20-year lifetime after its upgrade.

The European countries that would be approached for the procurement are France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain. These countries, Purnomo said, had recently reduced their military budget and therefore looked to sell some of their sophisticated weaponry at low prices.