RI to buy warships from the Netherlands

RI to buy warships from the Netherlands

JAKARTA: The government has decided to purchase two corvette
warships from the Netherlands in a bid to boost the capacity of
the Indonesian Navy.

Director General for Defense Procurement at the Ministry of
Defense Rear Adm. Pieter Wattimena said that the fast and lightly
armed ships were expected to be delivered to Indonesia in 2007.
He did not provide further details.

He said that the vessel purchase was one of the items
discussed on Wednesday by Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono
and his visiting counterpart from the Netherlands Henricus
Grogorius.

According to Pieter, the two sides discussed ways to boost
cooperation in the area of defense. The Netherlands government
has also offered cooperation in the maintenance and the supply of
components for military aircraft, particularly the Fokker planes
(F-27 and F-28), which are still being used by the Indonesian
Airforce. -- Antara