T

he Industry Ministry launched on Friday the groundbreaking for the construction of a propellant factory in Subang, West Java, in an effort to improve the country'€™s primary weapons defense system industry.

The project is the result of a partnership agreement between Indonesia and France through Indonesian state-owned explosives manufacturer PT Dahana, Anglo-French propulsion-systems company the Roxel Group and French chemical firm Eurenco.

According to the agreement, Roxel designs rocket propellers, hardware and explosives, while Eurenco develops and produces various chemical ingredients used in the defense and commercial sectors.

'€œ[I] hope both countries can increase their cooperation in the weapons industry,'€ Industry Minister MS Hidayat said in a speech at the event.

The domestic production of propellant ammunition and rockets could save Indonesia'€™s foreign exchange, as the country had depended heavily on imports for these commodities, according to Hidayat.

'€œIn the long run, we hope the factory will diversify its products and penetrate the regional market,'€
he said.

Although the project'€™s profitability remains open to question, due to its low economics of scale and sizeable investment, Hidayat said he was convinced that the factory'€™s construction should go ahead as it would '€œsupport the Indonesian Military [TNI] and the National Police to maximize their efforts in defending the country'€™s borders during unpredictable global situations.'€

In 2012, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s administration expected the amount of investment for the domestic weapons industry to reach Rp 100 trillion (US$8.1 billion) over a five-year period.

Previously, Dahana president director F. Harry Sampurno said his company needed investment of between $250 million and $350 million for the facility'€™s construction. The company planned to use its own cash as well as obtaining funds from its partners, he said.

According to Harry, the large amount of money was needed for the factory to work to full capacity. The factory is to be built on 600 hectares of land alongside offices, laboratories and warehouses.

The factory is expected to produce half-processed propellant materials needed by the domestic weapons industry to create bullets, rockets and missiles, as well as propellants for the purpose of small-, medium- and large-caliber ammunition.

The government expects the factory to produce 200 tons of nitroglycerine, 400 tons of spherical powders, 80 tons of double-based rocket propellant and 200 tons of composite propellant per year.

The president director of state-owned land systems and weapons manufacturer PT Pindad, Sudirman Said, said his company had agreed to buy propellant from Dahana for Pindad'€™s ammunition, having previously imported the commodity.

Pindad'€™s senior vice president for defense and security products, D. Bambang Muyono, said the company needed between 200 and 250 tons of propellant to produce small-caliber ammunition, adding that it needed larger amounts of propellant as it also produced large-caliber ammunition. (gda)