Indonesia looks to buy warships, submarines from Russia, Germany

Jan 5, 2006, 5:44 GMT

Jakarta - Indonesia is exploring to buy several new warships from Russia and attacks submarines from Germany in an attempt to boost the country's inferior sea defence capability, a local media report said Thursday.

The Ministry of Defence is currently negotiating with Russian officials for three new warships, which could include a corvette, a destroyer and a frigate, worth at about 335 million dollars, the Jakarta Post reported.

'We are approaching the Russians to explore the possibility of buying the warships and a sea-transport helicopter. I expect that within the next two months there will be a definite outcome on the matter,' the Post quoted Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, the ministry's secretary-general, as saying.

However, Sjamsuddin said, any warship purchases from Russia were unlikely to be made any time soon, because of the government's limited ability to pay.

The country is expected to spend about 28 trillion rupiah (2.83 billion dollars) this year on military spending, up from the 2.36 billion dollars earmarked in 2005. Most of this year's budget will be used to procure Navy and Air Force equipment.

Indonesia is awaiting delivery of two new corvettes in 2007 and 2008, bought from the Netherlands in a 2004 deal.

The defence budget in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is considered relatively low compared with smaller neighbours Thailand and Malaysia.

Apart from warships, the country is also planning to buy two or three deep-water submarines. Germany is the first country option for the shopping, considered one of the world's best producers of kilo-class submarines.

'We are planning to buy two or three kilo-class submarines between 2007 and 2009. We haven't decided on the country yet, but our best bet is currently Germany. But due to the budget constraints, we are also looking at other countries,' Sjamsuddin said.

Indonesia has so far only two diesel-powered submarines - the Cakra and the Nanggala - for its 3.2 million square kilometres of coastlines and seas.

Indonesia's military equipment has been steadily deteriorating, partly as a result of arms embargo imposed by the United States since early 1990s, on grounds of the country's poor human-rights record. Washington only lifted the ban last November.