Navy plans to purchase new submarines

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung

The Indonesian Navy has proposed that the government purchase two submarines from North Korea under a countertrade scheme worth US$600 million and involving 30 CN-235 passenger planes produced by state aircraft manufacture PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI).

Navy Chief of Staff Vice Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said that the deal would be negotiated by the Indonesian and South Korean governments.

He said that the new submarines would play an indispensable role in augmenting the Indonesian Navy fleet, which was currently in bad shape.

"At present, we only have two German-made submarines that are less than 20 years old, far below the ideal figure of 12 submarines," he said.

Although the lack of submarines had not dealt a severe blow to the country's defense system, it did put its credibility at risk, the admiral said.

"Neighboring countries would easily know that we only have two submarines when we dock one of our armada," he said.

Bernard said that one South Korean-made submarine, which he said was of good quality, was priced at between US$200 million and $300 million.

He also said that the Navy fell short of possessing the ideal number of helicopters for air defense. "The Navy now has only 166 helicopters, far below the ideal figure of 300 units," Bernard said.

PT DI director of production Budi Wuraskito said that his company would need 5 years to complete manufacturing the aircraft that would be sold under the proposed countertrade deal.

"We can only produce six CN-235 aircraft per year, therefore we will need five years to complete the order," he said.

He also said that the countertrade scheme had been discussed by the ministries of defense of both countries in the last two years. "But the Korean defense ministry said that the deal was not included in its 2004 state budget -- maybe for 2005 or 2006," he said.