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Indonesia receives drones, helicopters from United States
The Defense Ministry has been granted 14 Insitu ScanEagle drones and three Bell 412 helicopters from the United States, with Jakarta expecting the equipment to further strengthen the Navy's maritime patrol operations throughout the archipelago
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span>The Defense Ministry has been granted 14 Insitu ScanEagle drones and three Bell 412 helicopters from the United States, with Jakarta expecting the equipment to further strengthen the Navy's maritime patrol operations throughout the archipelago.
House of Representatives Commission I overseeing intelligence, defense and foreign affairs approved on Wednesday the grant from the US, although lawmakers reminded the Defense Ministry to reassess the drones and helicopters’ conditions so as to prioritize national security.
"We ask the government to take precautionary measures [...] such as to ensure that there are no wiretapping tools left attached unintentionally [in the equipment]," said House Commission I chairwoman Meutya Hafid.
"There is no need to be overly suspicious when a country that has a defense cooperation with [Indonesia] decides to give a grant, but cautiousness is still necessary."
The Commission I's decision followed a meeting on Wednesday with Defense Ministry officials, including Deputy Defense Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono.
Sakti said that in 2014 to 2015, the US offered the Indonesian Military (TNI) a grant-in-kind under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. The Navy accepted the offer in 2017, which included the ScanEagle drones, unmanned aerial vehicles built by Boeing subsidiary Insitu and an upgrade of Bell 412 helicopters.
The Defense Ministry set up an assessment team to examine the technical, economic and political aspects of the grant-in-kind before deciding whether it was strategic for Indonesia to accept it.
The ScanEagle drones, worth US$28.3 million, are expected to improve the Navy’s intelligence surveillance reconnaissance and ultimately strengthen the nation’s defense system, Sakti said.
He added that the three Bell 412 helicopters, worth $6.3 million, would be able to improve the Navy's military operations and the country’s national defense capabilities.
“The ScanEagle drones will only be used by the Navy for special purposes. We will only spend around Rp 10 billion [$719,886] to integrate and ensure the equipment’s data security with other defense systems,” Sakti said, adding that state-owned electronic components maker PT LEN Industri would handle the integration.
The Indonesian Navy will also be adding to its fleet Indonesia’s first domestically assembled submarine, the KRI Alugoro 405, in December.
It was completed and launched in June last year and is the third vessel to be built in an ongoing $1.1 billion partnership between state-owned ship maker PT PAL Indonesia and South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.
PAL Indonesia is currently conducting a trial run for the submarine until June, before the company officially hands the vessel over to the Defense Ministry to be used by the Navy.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said in late January that the submarine was a milestone in the country’s domestic defense industry amid demand to modernize its primary weaponry defense system.
He added that the vessel could represent Indonesia’s declining dependence on imported defense equipment. He also called on his Cabinet to focus on reforming local defense companies.
The Defense Ministry received the greatest allocation of funds from the state budget as the government works to boost the domestic defense industry.
