Surabaya (20/04/2022) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially launched the Defense Industry SOEs Holding named DEFEND ID, accompanied by the Indonesian Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir as well as Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto on April 20, 2022 at the PT PAL Indonesia’s submarine hangar Surabaya. This holding is a combination of five SOEs engaged in the defense industry consisting of PT Len Industri (Persero) as the parent of DEFEND ID, and PT Pindad, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, PT PAL Indonesia, and PT Dahana as members of holding.
In his remarks, President Joko Widodo hoped that the merger of these five SOEs could serve as a leap for the Indonesian defense industry to transform into formation ofa strong and modern defense industry ecosystem.
“We must realize the independence of the defense industry together. We cannot do it alone. We must strengthen the industry. We must also build the ecosystem to make sure it grows and develops in more advanced way. Therefore I appreciate the establishment of a defense industry holding company called Defend ID which I have been waiting for and pursuing for a long time,” said President Joko Widodo.
Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir positively welcomed the launch of the defense industry BUMN holding or DEFEND ID. Mr Thohir encouraged PT Len Industri (Persero) as the centre of holding company to be able to organize the transformation of members of the defense industry holding in order to realize good corporate governance (GCG) and build harmony among holding members in terms offinancial, marketing, operational and portfolio management sectors.
“The defense industry holding must be capable of strengthening the national defense ecosystem, not only with the holding members, but also by cooperating with other SOEs and the Indonesian Armed Forces. As the holding parent, (PT) Len has a major role in realizing integration with the three dimensions of the Indonesian Armed Forces, both land, sea and air,” said Mr Thohir.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Prabowo hoped that the Holding DEFEND ID will increase domestic components to 50% for key technologies and to become the world’s 50th largest industry in the defense industry by 2024.
“With the existence of DEFEND ID, it is our hope that it can accelerate the independence of the Indonesian defense industry in meeting the needs of domestic defense equipment, both in terms of the quantity of human resources and the quality of technology,” said Defense Minister Prabowo.
During the launch, President Director of PT Len Industri (Persero) Bobby Rasyidin said that under the new new brand, Bobby is optimistic that DEFEND ID can strengthen its role in building technology independence and the defense industry and as the main driver of the development of the domestic defense industry ecosystem.
“Defense and Security Tools and Equipment products must not only meet domestic needs with a good the domestic content requirement, but the holding is also targeted to be included in the top 50 global defense companies,” said Mr Rasyidin.
On the same occasion, the President also launched the Missile Fast Ship (KCR 60M) which was manufactured by PT PAL Indonesia and inaugurated PT Dahana’s Elemented Detonator Factory .
The KCR is a Domestic Procurement project carried out by the Ministry of Defense. In addition, KCR 60m is a state of the art product. The design process was crafted PT PAL Indonesia. Up the present time, Indonesia has 4 units of the 60m KCR which have been assigned Indonesian National Ship, while two other units are currently under construction. Meanwhile, Elemented Detonator is part of the detonator (explosive trigger), consisting of delay material to adjust the delay time, and energetic materials as the main filling. This Elemented Detonator factory is the first and only one in Indonesia.
Signing of Cooperation and Global Strategic Partnership
The launching event also saw six signings of DEFEND ID collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, and DEFEND ID’s global strategic partnership with foreign partners that were multi-year in nature.
First, the signing of the GCI (Ground-controlled Interception) Radar cooperation contract between PT Len Industri and the Defense Facilities Agency (Baranahan) of the Ministry of Defense. Second, the signing of the cooperation between PT Pindad and the Indonesian Ministry of Defense (Baranahan) for production of small-caliber munitions, followed by the signing of the cooperation for the modernization of 12 C130 aircraft between PT Dirgantara Indonesia and the Ministry of Defense. Fourth, the signing of the cooperation to increase the capability and modernization of the Indonesian Navy warships between PT PAL Indonesia and the Ministry of Defense. Fifth, the signing of a global strategic partnership for joint production of Armored Amphibious Assault Vehicle products between PT Pindad and FNSS Turkey. Sixth, the signing of the HoA (Head of Agreement) on defense electronics technology for the formation of a JV, global supply chain, and national radar industry between PT Len Industri and Thales France.
Also present at the launch were the Governor of East Java Khofifah Indar Parawansa, TNI Commander General M. Andika Perkasa, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Deputy Minister of SOEs I Pahala Nugraha Mansury, Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Army General TNI Dudung Abdurachman, Chief of Staff of the Navy Admiral Yudo Margono, TNI AU Chief of Staff Marshal TNI Fadjar Prasetyo, and Board of Commissioners and Directors of defense industry SOEs