RI to enter jet aircraft industry, Soeharto says

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): With experience in the aviation industry going back to 1976, Indonesia is now ready to undertake more sophisticated technology by manufacturing passenger jets, President Soeharto said yesterday.

The President told a press conference after witnessing the maiden flight of the first Indonesian-made N-250 turboprop airplane that state-owned PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) will soon develop the N-2130, a 130-seat passenger jet.

"If we start to develop the jet this year, we can have the first N-2130 by 2003," said Soeharto, who was accompanied by State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie at yesterday's meeting.

"We have to start now if we don't want to loose the momentum and market opportunities," Soeharto said.

Starting with the development of the Casa 212, an aircraft designed by Cassa of Spain, IPTN then developed the CN-235, a plane jointly designed and engineered with Cassa. In 1987, the company was assigned to develop its owned aircraft, the N-250, which carried out its maiden flight yesterday.

Soeharto said that the designing, engineering and construction of the N-2130 prototype will take eight years and cost at least US$2 billion.

Habibie, while displaying models of the N-2130 in front of Soeharto, said three types will be made: one with 80 seats, another with 100 seats and the final with 130 seats. The aircraft will be able to fly at a speed of 232 kilometers (125 knots) per hour with a maximum cruising altitude of 11,890 meters (39,000 feet).

Soeharto acknowledged that the government will face financial constraints in developing such jets.

"But we have to solve them. If this jet development can be accepted as a national project, which will make us proud, let's work together to finance the project by buying two million shares worth $1 million each that will be issued by IPTN," he said.

Habibie said the N-2130 project is supervised by his eldest son Ilham Akbar Habibie.

Ilham, 32, who attended an apprenticeship program at Boeing Co. in Seattle, the United States, will be chief of the N-2130 project.

According to Ilham, a team has been studying the technology for the N-2130.

He said that a technical program for the jet's development has been going on since last October and will last until December 1996, while designing will start in 1997.

The preliminary drafting is scheduled for April 1997 to March 2000, the detailed designs for October 1999 to March 2003 and the part manufacturing for December 2001 to May 2003, he said.

"The roll-out of the first prototype of N-2130 is scheduled for December 2003, while its first flight is expected in March 2004," Ilham said, adding that certification is expected between April 2004 and May 2006.

He promised that the first delivery will be ready by June 2006.

Minister Habibie said the world demand for aircraft with 80 to 130 seats between 1995 and 2015 is estimated at 2,757. N-2130's rivals will include the Dutch-made Fokker F-70 and F-100, Britain's BAe-146s and the American Boeing-737-300.

The Bandung-based IPTN already assembles and produces parts for fixed-wing aircraft such as the C-212 and CN-235 as well as helicopters like the NBO-105, NAS-332, Bell 412 and Superpuma.

IPTN spent $400 million to develop the N-250 out of the $650 million it was allocated. (pet/icn)