RI to buy four submarines

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Navy plans to buy four more submarines to add to the two it already has, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Arief Kushariadi was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

Arief said Indonesia would get two of the new submarines sometime this year from Germany, Antara reported.

He did not give details of the submarines nor their prices.

He said that given Indonesia's vast marine territory, the Navy should have at least six submarines.

He said because Indonesia was in the middle of several international sea passages in the Pacific and Indian oceans it was prone to external threats.

The Navy currently has two submarines, the KRI Nanggala and KRI Cakra. (emb)