Navy to buy 48 patrol vessels

Navy to buy 48 patrol vessels

JAKARTA: Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Bernard K. Sondakh said
on Wednesdaythe Navy would give priority to the planned purchase
of 48 more patrol vessels to complement the 22 existing ones.

"The Navy has sent a team of defense experts to East European
countries, especially Poland, to seek cheap but good-quality
products with after-sale warranties," he said after swearing in
Rear Admiral Djoko Sumaryono as new chief of the Navy's Western
Fleet, to replace Rear Admiral Sumardjono, in a simple ceremony
here.

Sumardjono will have a new job as assistant to the Navy chief
on planning and budgetary affairs.

Sondakh said the planned purchase of military equipment from
Eastern Europe had nothing to do with the embargo imposed by
Western Europe and the U.S. on the military on account of alleged
human rights abuses in East Timor in the past.

"The main problem is the shortage of funds," he said.

He implied that the Navy would continue to supply patrol
vessels from state-owned PT PAL but it was in urgent need of such
ships to deal with violations by foreign ships in Indonesian
waters. --JP