DAHANA released its military sector latest innovation by launching a Loitering Munition called Rajata. The soft launching was held at the Army Pussenif Office in Cipatat, Bandung, on Friday, July 22, 2022 and was attended by the Ministry of Defense’s Research and Development Agency and the Army Infantry Weapons Center.
DAHANA’s Director of Technology and Development, Suhendra Yusuf RPN said, Rajata is a high-tech destructive weapon that can be used to automatically destroy targets using its self-controlled feature. This is a novel technology and first to be produced in Southeast Asia.
“Rajata technology allows personnel who use it to destroy targets without the enemy knowing. Rajata can be an alternative solution to missiles as the latter is more economical, and has a much higher accuracy rate compared to rockets,” said Mr Yusuf.
Loitering Munition is also known as an unmanned aircraft assigned to carry out self-destroyer missions with a loiter system (going around) in the target area to find targets before attacking. This weapon is usually used to attack targets which require a quick response once it is detected.
Mr Yusuf also claimed that, owing to its abilities, Rajata has the potential to be used in all of the tasks of Indonesian armed force such as for use by land troops platoons at every Indonesian border, on ships belonging to the Indonesian Navy, or on Indonesian Air Force aircraft as weapons.
Rajata will later be competing with other Loitering Munitions, such as Russia’s Kalashnikov, Poland’s Warmate, America’s Switchblade, and Israel’s Hero-30. The name Rajata itself is taken from Sanskrit which means destroyer, referring the abilities attached to this Loitering Munition.
“It is our hope that that this technology will contribute to the independence of the Main Weapon System Equipment (Alutsista) and the Defense and Security Equipment Tool (Alpalhankam) of the Republic of Indonesia, and strengthen the national defense system. DAHANA is committed to Serving the Nation Better, for the Progress of Indonesia,” said Mr Yusuf.
He continued that in the future Dahana will also open up opportunities to collaborate with various parties to develop Rajata, be it fellow Defense Industry, or other parties. Dahana is concerned about building the Triple Helix Concept in developing Rajata.
“In general we also see a fairly large market potential in Southeast Asia and Asia. Therefore, if the Rajata Loitering Munition will become business-oriented in the future, when the time comes, it can come into a mass-production scheme (industry),” concluded Mr Yusuf.
DAHANA is a member of the SOEs Defense Industry holding, DEFEND ID. Various kinds of military explosive products were successfully invented by the company’s Energetic Material Center, such as P Series Bombs, Defense Rockets, Counter Tank Weapons, and several other high energy products.