Indonesia to purchase more Hercules from U.S.

Indonesia to purchase more Hercules from U.S.

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Instead of procuring lethal armaments from the United States,
Indonesia has decided, initially at least, to purchase more
Hercules transport planes over the next five to ten years as they
are essential for supporting both military and non-military
operations.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono made an announcement to
this effect on Friday following the U.S. decision this week to
lift its 14-year military embargo against Indonesia.

"The current threats (to domestic security) require rapid
troop deployments," Juwono said. "The transport planes will also
be of great benefit to the military (TNI) in carrying out civic
missions, such as to transporting food, medicines and supplies to
areas hit by natural disasters."

"We need to buy as many Hercules as possible because of the
total of 24 transport planes purchased in the past, only six are
still operational," Juwono said.

Three of the six transport planes were heavily used for relief
efforts during last December's tsunami in Aceh that killed
131,000 people.

"Perhaps the purchase of new Hercules could account for up to
70 percent of the total procurement budget, while the remaining
30 percent will be used for the purchase of lethal armaments,"
the minister added without saying how much money would actually
be available.

The 2005 state budget has allocated Rp 24 trillion (US$2.6
billion) for defense spending.

Juwono made his statement after holding a closed-door meeting
with the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, B. Lynn Pascoe, on defense
issues.

The two officials also discussed the role of Indonesia in
preventing terrorist threats in the crucial Malacca Strait and in
the Southeast Asia region -- threats that encouraged the Bush
administration to lift the military embargo.

Juwono said that despite the revival of full military ties
with the U.S., Indonesia would continue to seek alternative
sources of military supplies, including armaments from Russia,
Australia, China, and Spain, because a "changing political
situation in the U.S. could affect us (Indonesia) the most."

Washington imposed a partial military embargo on Indonesia in
1992 after a massacre blamed on the TNI in Dili, the capital of
the country's former East Timor province.

The U.S. later imposed a full embargo in response to
allegations of gross human rights violations linked to the
military, again in East Timor, after the 1999 U.N.-sponsored
ballot for independence.

The embargo seriously depleted Indonesia's defense
capabilities.

Meanwhile, Pascoe said the U.S. decision to restore ties was
intended to "normalize the military-to-military relationship
between the two countries."

JP/1/IBOX
.rm72

U.S. military embargo cripples RI air capability

Effects Year

Impounding of 1 F-5E jet fighter being overhauled in the U.S. 1995

Spare parts for F-5Es impounded in Malaysia, Singapore, 1995
Malaysia, Brazil

Spare parts for F-16s impounded in South Korea, New late '90s
Zealand

Only 5 out of 10 F-16 jet fighters airworthy

Only 9 out of 24 Hercules transport aircraft operational

Source: Indonesian Air Force