Navy to buy South Korea subs
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The question of from where the Navy would purchase two submarines it plans to acquire in the next 10 years was answered on Thursday when Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said his office would get them from South Korea.
Sondakh said the Navy would acquire two submarines type 1300 equipped with dozens of torpedoes from South Korea, with the first delivery expected in 2008.
According to Sondakh, the submarines, costing about US$270 million each, would strengthen the force, which currently has only two antiquated submarines to guard the country's vast sea territory.
The government said earlier that the government planned to buy two submarines for the Navy but did not explain from where it would buy the equipment.
Sondakh said Indonesia, as an archipelagic country, should have at least six submarines, but "due to the state's financial condition, the Navy has had to prioritize strengthening its striking force, instead of its fleet of warships".
"In the very near future, we'll have to strengthen our striking force by purchasing more corvettes and patrol boats," Sondakh said.
"But indeed, strengthening our armada is also essential to warn other countries against violating our sovereignty," the four-star Navy admiral announced on the sidelines of a one-day seminar on maritime terrorism at the Navy Staff and Command School (Seskoal) in South Jakarta.
In comparison, neighboring Singapore has four Swedish-made submarines, while Malaysia plans to purchase three more submarines from France.
He did not, however, elaborate as to why the Navy was buying submarines from South Korea.
In 1994, the country purchased 35 used submarines from Germany but only two remain operable.
The two submarines are among 117 ships in the Navy's armada, which comprises 14 warships, 57 patrol boats and 44 support vessels such as tankers and carriers. Only 30 percent of the ships, however, are seaworthy.
Sondakh earlier disclosed that the Navy had struck a deal with South Korea on the purchase of a $35 million personnel landing dock equipped with medical facilities. The vessel arrived in Surabaya on Sept. 17.
Indonesian has been forced to seek military equipment from new sources following the United States' decision to impose a military embargo on the country following the 1999 post-ballot violence in East Timor.
Despite strong objection from legislators, the government recently purchased four Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters for the Air Force and two Mi-35 assault helicopters for the Army.
To improve coordination, the Navy also plans to reorganize its structure by merging its western and eastern fleets and putting them under the command of one man and renaming it the Republic of Indonesia fleet.
Sondakh said he was in the process of selecting the right man to hold the post and expected that the TNI Headquarters would approve his choice by Dec. 5.
"The commander will be a three-star Navy admiral and his tasks will focus on the operation of all of the Navy's ships.
"The current structure of the Navy is not efficient because two commanders in charge of two Navy fleets sometimes have different policies. What is a priority for the eastern commander could be just 10th in line for the western commander," Sondakh said.
The western fleet, which is based in Jakarta, is tasked with overseeing maritime territory ranging from Tegal in East Java to the Sabang islands, while the eastern fleet, based in Surabaya, East Java, is assigned to monitor maritime territory from Tegal to Merauke in Papua province.
Currently, the two fleets are led by two-star admirals -- Rear Adm. Mualimin Santoso for the Western Fleet, and Rear Adm. Slamet Soebianto for the Eastern Fleet.
Sondakh also said that the new fleet commander would oversee three subordinates in charge of the three sea-lanes that divide the country into four major zones -- Sumatra; Kalimantan and Java; Sulawesi and Bawean islands; and Papua islands.