Navy signs deal to buy two corvettes

JAKARTA: Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh signed on Wednesday a contract to purchase two corvettes from Dutch shipyard Royal Schelde.

Representing the shipyard was sales and marketing director Robert Post. Also present was Dutch Ambassador Baron Schelto van Heemstra.

The value of the contract was not available on Wednesday.

Each corvette will be 90.71 meters long and 13.02 meters wide, with a cruising speed of 28 knots and equipped with the latest weaponry and instruments. It will take 32 months to complete them.

The weaponry will include 76-millimeter cannon, antiaircraft missiles and torpedoes. A combat navigation system, electronics warfare, identification of friend of foe (IFF) system, infrared tracking radar and sonar will also be installed.

Meanwhile, the Navy has also signed a contract to fit new engines to three Frosch-class landing ships, KRI Teluk Manado, KRI Teluk Hading and Teluk Cirebon, and a submarine, KRI Cakra, with South Korea's Daewoo International Corporation.

The Frosch-class landing ships were bought from the former East German navy.

The contract was signed with Daewoo's senior vice president Ki Hwa-choi. -- JP