T

he government launched on Monday French-made research vessel Rigel-933 in commemoration of the 20th National Technology Awakening Day.

Named after the brightest star in the Orion constellation, the Navy ship is a multipurpose vehicle that is ready for maritime surveillance and oceanographic studies.

It can also collect topographical data for defense-related tasks as well as search and rescue operations.

Rigel'€™s equipment includes an autonomous underwater vehicle to produce underwater imagery at up to 1,000 meters in depth, a side scan sonar and an automatic weather station.

Along with Rigel-933, the government also reintroduced other research vessels, including the locally made Bawal Putih III, owned by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, and Geomarin III, owned by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, during a ceremony at a naval base in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta.

Other vessels that were presented that day were French-made Baruna Jaya IV, owned by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT); and Norwegian-made Baruna Jaya VIII, owned by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

The five vessels will join the existing 12 research vessels across Indonesian waters.

To carry out effective research, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo said that research should be done based on needs.

'€œThe vessels are meant to trace living and non-living natural resources in the sea, sea characteristics for applicable use and help the country name and verify unnamed islands,'€ Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo said Monday during the celebration.

Bawal III will be used to track the number of fish in the sea, which will aid the government in determining the amount of fish that can be netted safely per year.

'€œThe presence of these research vessels shows our preparedness to carry out hydrographic and oceanographic research to solve the sovereignty issues of this nation. Now we only have 13,466 [out of 17,000] islands named and whose geography coordinates are verified. We still have thousands unverified,'€
he added.

According to the government, the research vessels have high operational costs.

Bawal Putih III, for example has a daily Rp 100 million (US$7,400) operational cost while Baruna Jaya IV Rp 160 million.

The operation of Rigel-933 will be maximized next year because the government is focusing on its operational preparations this year.

'€œThe operation of the ship will be optimal next year because we will have a bigger operational budget for it,'€ Indroyono said.

Gunawan said that state-owned research vessels could also be used by private and foreign parties for research that benefits Indonesia.

'€œThe private sector will have to pay for the operational costs in that case,'€ Gunawan said. (rbk)