Airbus Military C295: (JP/Novan Iman Santosa)
State-owned aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) signed a contract with Airbus Military to buy nine C-295 medium transport aircraft, including spare parts and training, worth US$325 million on Wednesday.
The contract was signed by PT DI president director Budi Santoso and Airbus Military’s Domingo Urena-Raso at the Singapore Airshow, the Indonesian Defense Ministry said in a media release.
Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Agus Suhartono witnessed the signing.
The aircraft purchase used an export credit scheme and will be operated by the Indonesian Air Force with a new designation code, CN-295. The air force will use the aircraft for military, logistics, humanitarian and medical evacuation missions.
The first aircraft will be delivered this year, with the last expected in the second half of 2014.
The contract includes substantial collaboration between the two firms for the C-295 program, namely the manufacturing of the tail empennage, rear fuselage and fuselage panels, as well as work packages for the development of Computer Based Training systems, the creation of a service and delivery centre and a final assembly line in Indonesia, Airbus Military said in a statement Wednesday.
“This is a proud moment for our country as well as for the Indonesian aerospace industry. The C295 provides the ideal capacity to respond to Indonesia’s current and future military and humanitarian transport needs and does so very cost-efficiently, with full participation of the Indonesian aerospace industry, creating high-skilled jobs and technology transfer,” Purnomo said in the statement.
Budi said that the contract builds partnership between Airbus Military and the Indonesian aerospace industry.
“It will provide our country with the right capability for the years to come and allows PT DI to grow its aerospace business as a tier 1 supplier. This will position PT DI on the global aerospace scene and allow us to enhance our skills and workforce,” Budi said in the statement.
Urena-Raso said that he was pleased that the Indonesian Defense Ministry chose the C-295.
“We will ensure that we live up to this mark of confidence, which demonstrates the value that the C295 provides to the armed forces around the world,” he said.
Over 85 C-295s are currently being used by 14 different operators.
The C-295 is a further development on the smaller CN-235, which was jointly designed and jointly produced by PT DI’s predecessor IPTN and Airbus Military’s predecessor CASA, hence the CN designation.
