T

he Indonesian Navy accepted delivery of its second locally made KCR-40 guided-missile fast boat at a handover ceremony at Batu Ampar Port in Batam, Riau Islands, on Thursday.

The KRI Kujang, made in Indonesia by PT Palindo Marindo, will join the KRI Clurit, the first KCR-40 that the private shipyard made for the Navy.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Agus Suhartono, Navy chief Adm. Soeparno and lawmakers Mahfudz Siddiq and Max Sopacua from House Commission I overseeing defense attended the ceremony.

“The new fast boat is the answer for Indonesia’s vast territorial seas,” Purnomo said.

Agus said the Navy would use the boats for amphibious operations, to patrol the nation’s maritime borders and for law enforcement.

The shipyard took about a year to build the Kujang, which cost Rp 73 billion (US$7.98 million).

The ship, 40 meters long and 7.4 meters wide, can make a maximum speed of 27 knots. Vessels of the KCR-40 class are armed with missiles with a range of 80 kilometers and equipped with modern weaponry such as Sewaco weapon sensor control systems, Chinese-made C-705 anti-ship missiles with a range of 120 kilometers, six 30-mm caliber cannon for close-in weapons support and two aft 20-mm cannon.

The Kujang, which will be assigned to the Navy’s Western Fleet Command in Jakarta, will carry a compliment of 35 officers and sailors with capacity for a 13 member special forces team.

The Navy plans to procure 14 KCR-40 boats by 2014.

Commission I chairman Mahfudz said that the House approved part of the procurement and was in the process of approving the remainder to keep to the ministry’s 2014 target.

Purnomo said that the ministry would order the remaining boats domestically to bolster the nation’s defense manufacturers.

The government previously committed to incrementally replace all of the TNI’s main weapon systems by the year 2024.

Purnomo added that the ministry was currently drafting the defense industry bill as a legal basis for developing the nation’s defense industry.

Mahfudz said that the House would start deliberations on the bill in March and expected to finish by late 2012.

“We will set affirmative policies to support our country’s national defense industry. I would like to propose that the end-users of our defense industry are not only the military, but also other institutions, such as the police, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency [BNPB],” he said. (rpt)