Indonesia forges global relationships to boost defense industry
Indonesia, as part of its ongoing diplomacy with current and potential defense industry partners, recently announced discussions between its officials and their counterparts in Romania and South Africa. The talks parallel Jakarta’s efforts to upgrade the capabilities of its Armed Forces and to integrate advanced technology into its defense industry.
Speaking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Regional Forum Security Policy Conference on May 27, 2021, Indonesia’s director general of defense strategy, Rodon Pedrason, emphasized the importance of capacity building and technology transfer for closing the capabilities gap in new and developing technologies and for “building the trust that enables developing countries to take advantage of these technologies.”
Two days earlier, Pedrason was among the Indonesian defense officials who met with a Romanian delegation to discuss boosting the nations’ defense cooperation, as well as possible collaboration on a technology transfer project for the Indonesian military, according to Indonesia’s Defense Ministry, known as Kemhan.
The talks followed 2020 visits by personnel from Indonesia’s embassy in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, to Romanian defense firms, including a helicopter manufacturer and firearms and ammunition makers.
A defense cooperation agreement between Indonesia and South Africa also is nearing completion, according to a June 2021 Kemhan news release.
The countries work together to design, manufacture and sell armored vehicle systems, such as the one pictured, for the Indonesian Armed Forces. The collaboration dates to a 2019 agreement between Indonesia’s state-owned defense firm, PT Pindad, and South Africa’s Paramount Group, a global aerospace and technology company.
Jakarta has big ambitions for restocking the Indonesian military, online magazine Defense News reported May 10, 2021. These include requests for a dozen diesel-electric submarines for the Navy, as well as improvements to existing vessels, and new fighter squadrons for the Air Force. The plans emphasize domestic production.
The fourth quarter of 2020 also saw a flurry of similar outreach by Indonesia to other countries, according to The Jakarta Post newspaper. A defense cooperation agreement was signed with Sweden in September; talks were held with France in October to perform defense equipment upgrades; and acoustic torpedo countermeasures — jammers and decoys — were imported from Turkey in November.
Tom Abke is a FORUM contributor reporting from Singapore.
IMAGE CREDIT: PARAMOUNT GROUP
