Marine Corps plan new assault battalion
Marine Corps plan new assault battalion
JAKARTA (JP): The Marine Corps is currently forming a new
assault battalion designed for landing and amphibious operations
despite questions surrounding the financing of the sophisticated
weaponry needed for such a unit.
Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Tanto Koeswanto disclosed on
Monday that the new unit, which will be the third assault
battalion in the Corps, is needed to protect Indonesia's vast
maritime territory.
"This battalion will consist of 2,000 troops and will be
equipped with weapons systems comprising amphibious tanks, tank
landing ships, helicopters and standard arms," Tanto told
reporters after inducting Brig. Gen. Djoko Pramono as the new
commandant of the Marine Corps to replace Maj. Gen. Gafur Chalik,
who will become the Navy's inspector general.
The additional battalion is one of the programs comprising the
recently launched Fifth Military Strategic Plan from 1994 to
1998.
Tanto said he did not foresee any problems in recruiting 2,000
personnel for the new battalion, but added that financing
questions remain to be solved.
He pointed out that such a battalion requires a minimum of 12
helicopters, between 32 and 36 amphibious tanks, 10 to 12 tank
landing ships (LST) and weapons.
"Imagine how much we will have to spend for such an array of
military equipment," he said, reminding reporters that military
spending takes low priority in the government's budgetary plans.
He argued however that Indonesia desperately needs a third
Marine Corps assault battalion because of the huge area that
needs to be patrolled -- six million square kilometers of marine
area and more than 17,500 islands.
"The marine corps in Thailand, which has one tenth the
maritime territory of Indonesia, is the same size as
Indonesia's," he said.
He said the plan is in keeping with the principle of
maintaining a streamlined but effective military force, which was
used as part of a major rationalization program in the 1980s.
"The size should be proportional to the territory," he said.
Besides the present two assault battalions, the Marine Corps
has six infantry battalions, five reserve battalions and six
battalions for administrative affairs.
All the battalions are located in Jakarta and Surabaya.
The Marine Corps, a command established in 1945, has played a
pivotal role in past various military operations, including the
quashing of communist coups in 1948 and 1965, the campaign to
regain Irian Jaya from the Dutch in the 1960s and the military
confrontations against Malaysia and Singapore in the 1960s.
The corps have also participated in United Nations
peacekeeping missions in Congo, Vietnam, the Middle East, Iraq
and Cambodia. (rms)