Navy Says World-Class Status Just a Year Away
By Yeremia Sukoyo on 10:35 am July 6, 2013.
Indonesian navy helicopters fly above the marines during a military exercise on Banongan beach, Situbondo, East Java province, Indonesia on May 3, 2013. More than 16,000 military personnel from the army, navy and airforce participated in the exercise to upgrade military skills. (EPA Photo/Fully Handoko)
The Indonesian Navy is well on track to meet its five-year plan of becoming a world-class force by next year, an official said on Friday.
Commodore Untung Suropati, a spokesman for the Navy, said at a meeting with reporters at Navy headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday that the force was making good progress in improving manpower capabilities and strengthening its weapons-based capacity.
“To become a world-class navy, we have to be consistent in implementing our ‘inward-looking’ and ‘outward-looking’ programs,” he said.
Inward-looking, he went on, meant boosting manpower capabilities through more training and education programs, as well as shoring up weapons systems and defense capacity.
Untung said the outward-looking programs centered on policymaking and strategy mapping in response to defense-oriented shifts in the Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions.
“Indonesia needs to take steps to anticipate or prevent various kinds of threats, whether actual or potential, as a result of the constantly changing regional defense landscape,” he said.
With the Navy currently in the fourth year of its five-year plan, Untung said the it was on pace to meet its weapons and defense targets.
He said that through foreign deals and domestic production, the Navy had increased the size of its fleet to 39 warships, including two submarines and two destroyers.
He also said the Marines’ weapons systems had been boosted with the procurement of several tanks, speedboats and amphibious carriers.
Untung said that as part of the five-year program, the Navy was also working through the Defense Ministry to boost the capacity of Indonesia’s nascent domestic defense industry.
He said this included collaborating with producers in Lampung, Batam (Riau Islands, Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java) and Banyuwangi (East Java) on building equipment including torpedo boats and patrol boats.
“We expect to soon be able to build a submarine entirely in the country, as part of our commitment to shoring up our domestic defense industry and increasing the proportion of defense systems that we source domestically,” he said.
Untung said the next five-year program would see the Navy shift away from improving its manpower and hardware capabilities, and focus more on drawing up strategic objectives to deal with the various challenges it faces domestically, in Southeast Asia and in the wider Asia Pacific.
He said one pressing domestic matter to be addressed was securing Indonesia’s remote outlying islands, many of which are uninhabited and have been the focus of disputes with neighboring countries.
The Navy has also highlighted the need for more patrols to crack down on a range of maritime security problems such as drug trafficking, people smuggling and illegal fishing.
Navy Says World-Class Status Just a Year Away - The Jakarta Globe
Ultra Electronics plans to double Indonesian naval deal
Thu, 04 July 2013
Ultra Electronics Holdings Quote
Price: 1,768.00
Chg: -2.00
Chg %: -0.11%
Date: 17:14
Defence and security group Ultra Electronics has won a 32m pounds contract from the Indonesian ministry of defence.
The FTSE 250 company has been charged with the mid-life modernisation of one of the Indonesian navy's Fatahillah destroyers.
Ultra said the exact start-time of the modernisation programme is subject to funding provision and once it has begun the contract will then be delivered over a 28 month period.
The High Wycombe group was eyeing a potential doubling of the deal as it added that discussions regarding the similar modernisation of the second Fatahillah ship were expected to start later in the year.
The contract includes the development, installation and integration of a new combat management system.
The marine engineering aspects of the work package will be undertaken by Ultra's partner, Nobiskrug with its local subcontractor in Indonesia.
Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive of Ultra, said: "Following five years positioning of Ultra's offering to the Middle and Far Eastern markets, I am delighted that Ultra's specialist naval capabilities have been recognised with the award of this prestigious contract by the Republic of Indonesia.
"Ultra has again demonstrated its ability to partner with other world class businesses to offer differentiated solutions to its customers.
"I look forward to the further development of Ultra's relationship with this new customer and we will continue to position our businesses for further successes in the future."
Shares in Ultra Electronics were unmoved at 1,738p at 08:15 on Thursday morning.
http://sharecast.com/news/ultra-electronics-plans-to-double-indonesian-naval-deal/21007260.html
.... btw i don't think that he/she maybe(?) are really malaysian people.., i guest he's just a troller of activists or from a particular organizations.. but that is just my 2cents.
