Indonesian Navy set to have domestically built frigate in 2016

The Indonesian Navy will soon have its own domestically made frigate when the construction of the PKR 10514 guided-missile destroyer escort is completed in 2016.Navy chief of staff Adm. Marsetio led a keel laying ceremony for the PKR, which the navy classifies as a frigate, at the state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia in Surabaya on Wednesday. The warship is being built under the supervision of Dutch shipbuilder Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS).

“The PKR frigate will have the modern surface warfare capabilities being equipped with [anti-ship] Exocet missile, anti-submarine warfare with torpedoes, anti-aircraft warfare and electronic warfare,” Marsetio said after the ceremony.The new warship is the largest to be built domestically with a length of 105 meters and a width of 14 meters.Marsetio was accompanied by the Defense Ministry’s Defense Facilities Agency chief Rear Adm. Rachmat Lubis, Dutch Ambassador to Jakarta Tjeerd F de Zwan, and DSNS CEO Hen van Ameijden.

The Defense Ministry ordered two PKR 10514s with a contract of US$220 million. The first steel cutting was conducted  in January to mark the start of the frigate construction.Rachmat said the contract already covered training for PT PAL’s engineers both at home and in the Netherlands and weaponry for the frigates, which must include domestically made weapon systems.

“Initially the warship was to be fully built abroad but after some 175 discussions, it was agreed that the production would be conducted jointly with PT PAL,” he said.The construction is divided into six modules, of which four would be built at PT PAL’s facility while the remaining two, engine and bridge, would be built in Vlissingen.



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