SUBANG – PT DAHANA’s head-offices are currently located in, Subang, West Java. This State-owned Enterprise (SOE), which is a member of DEFEND ID holding, has a long history of helping shape Indonesian explosives industry. According to PT DAHANA’s Senior Manager of Legal & Corporate Communication, Juli Jajuli, DAHANA is currently the center of Indonesian explosives.
PT DAHANA started its history in 1966 from the “Menang Project” initiated by the Indonesian Air Force (AURI). The word ‘menang’ was taken from the name of a hamlet in Kuwiran village in Madiun where the Indonesian Air Force started building the first rocket factory in Indonesia. Menang hamlet was chosen due to its strategic location which is close to the Iswahyudi Air Base.
“However, as the airbase was then considered to be in a hazard of possible attacks, DAHANA moved to Tasikmalaya. Furthermore, in this city of Moslem scholars, three divisions of the factory were built. Menang Project I was changed into the Menang Rocket Factory. Meanwhile, two new factories were constructed under the name of Menang Project II which produced dynamites, and Menang Project III that served as Sideline Production facility,” said Mr Jajuli at the Dahana Subang Campus (15/07).
In February 1973, the possibility of converting the Menang project into a Public Company (Perum) was explored. Finally, on October 1, 1973, by virtue of Government Regulation No. 36/1973 on the Change of the status of Menang Project, the project was changed into DAHANA Public Company.
Mr Jajuli added that the name DAHANA was taken from Sanskrit which means “fire”, the logo of the Menang Project was also changed to a pentagon representing the Indonesian Air Force, between the image of a clay pot and the fire that was previously pointing to the left and right.
“The change of DAHANA’s status to Perum (public company) was the first step to become a more professional company. This went in a coincidence with Indonesia that started developing a technology-based industry in 1970s, in the midst of a debate on which strategy was to be adopted,” said Mr Jajuli.
During that period, DAHANA experienced some ups and downs. One of DAHANA’s warehouses exploded which resulted in the cessation of all DAHANA’s activities, from research, development, to operations. After this incident, a decision was issued to allow the import of explosives by end users, which caused chaos in the world of Indonesian explosives industry.
To overcome this, the government issued Presidential Decree no. 27 of 1982 which appointed DAHANA as the only company that could import, produce and distribute explosives domestically. In 1991 DAHANA officially became a company. However, the explosives monopoly did not last long. In 1994, the government again opened the faucet for competition in the domestic explosives market, with imports from the world’s leading explosives companies.
Mr Jajuli also explained that at that time, under all the heartbreaking situation in the company, it was possible for DAHANA’s workers to leave the Company that might lead to bankruptcy. But that didn’t happen. As Mr Jajuli said, the key to DAHANA’s survival is the presence of superior and unyielding human resources.
“The key to success that has been realized by PT DAHANA since its inception until its current existence is the result of hard work and commitment as outlined in the company’s vision and mission that enables the Company to sustainably grow and develop; one of which lies in the Human Resources force,” Mr Jajuli added.
Under the spirit of innovation, DAHANA then transformed into a company that is capable of responding to various needs for explosives, with integrated blasting services. DAHANA then began to develop to diversify its business products and services, from commercial to military markets.
DAHANA’s rapid growth in terms of commercial explosives is considered by the government to be part of the defense industry capable of realizing the independence of the main Weapon System Equipment (Alutsista) and the National Defense and Security Equipment (Alpalhankam).
On March 2, 2022, finally DAHANA officially became part of the Defense Industry SOEs holding (DEFEND ID. Along with the four other defense industry SOEs, DAHANA is challenged to penetrate the Top Global 50 Defense Company and increase the Domestic Content Level (TKDN)
DAHANA’s tasks began to be carried out one after another in a steady way. Following the construction of the elemented detonator factory, DAHANA is able to increase the domestic content level by to 50% and help save the country’s foreign exchange.
“Apart from that, the construction of the Ammonium Nitrate factory is also being accelerated to make sure that DAHANA actively takes part in the upstream of the explosives industry,” concluded Mr Jajuli.
