Jokowi was speaking on the sidelines of the 2022 Indo Defense Expo and Forum at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. The biennial event returned after four years after the 2020 show was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The President was accompanied by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Andika Perkasa, Army chief of staff Gen. Dudung Abdurachman, Navy chief of staff Adm. Yudo Margono and Air Force chief of staff Air Chief Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo, as well as National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo.

The entourage toured the JI Expo halls and stopped by several exhibitors, such as state-owned defense holding company DEFEND ID, which includes aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia, shipyard PT PAL Indonesia, weapons and land systems manufacturer PT Pindad, explosives maker PT Dahana and electronics and communication company PT Len Industri.

Indonesia has been working to improve its defense industry, both state-owned companies and the private sector, to fulfill the needs of the TNI and other security agencies, such as the police and the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla).

Prabowo stressed that the government was providing equal opportunities for state-owned companies and private-sector manufacturers in state defense procurement drives.

Law No. 12/2016 on the defense industry stipulates that the procurement of defense and security equipment ought to prioritize locally made systems. Only equipment that cannot be made locally is allowed to be bought from foreign suppliers with offset requirements that include transfers of technology and countertrade mechanisms.

There are several bilateral cooperation programs involving Indonesian defense firms with their foreign counterparts, such those from France, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Mark Goldsack, director of International Trade Department at UK Defense and Security Exports said there were two fundamental issues in defense industrial cooperation.

“How do we co-create capability that we can understand, use and deploy together and how do we create an industrial base that can underpin that and sustain it for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years,” he told The Jakarta Post at the event.

“If you can do that, then we are into long-term [relations]. And the truth is that defensive security is a long-term business. This isn't a short-term investment horizon.”

Goldsack said that it was not a game played on the futures market but more about structural state investment over the long term.

“Your capabilities are fundamental to the defense and security of the state. So it is a serious business,” he said.

Co-manufacturing initiatives already in motion include cooperation between PT PAL Indonesia and British shipbuilder Babcock to build two Arrowhead 140 frigates for the Indonesian Navy.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing expressed separately their commitments to further develop industrial collaboration in Indonesia.

Contract signing

During the first day of the expo, Jokowi and Prabowo witnessed the signing of four contracts between defense companies and the military.

First, DEFEND ID is to provide 6,000 e-bikes and Pindad to provide 3,000 jeeps for the three armed services.

The second contract covers the procurement of health devices and the construction of 27 hospitals for the three services to use, which involves three state-owned companies and 10 private companies.

Also signed was a local content and offset agreement from 20 procurement contracts with foreign suppliers for the period of 2019-2022 with a total local content value of Rp 67.5 trillion (US$4.31 billion).

Two state-owned companies also signed a cooperation agreement to develop propellant raw materials, as part of the Defense Ministry’s efforts to reduce dependence on imported raw materials.

More than 900 companies from around 50 counties are participating in Indo Defense, which also runs simultaneously with the Indo Aerospace and Indo Marine expos.

On Thursday and Friday, there will be two other sites with exhibition activities in support of the main event: Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force base in East Jakarta will host aircraft displays that will see the presence to two French Dassault Rafale jet fighters flown to Jakarta especially for the biennial event. Meanwhile, the Naval ship display takes place at the Pondok Dayung docks in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

The exhibition is open to the public on Saturday at JI Expo for an entrance fee of Rp 50,000.

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