Army Chief Of Staff Hopes There Will Be Alutsista Modernization Even Though It Depends On The Budget

Photo archive: Army Chief of Staff General TNI Dudung Abdurachman signed the inscription of the inauguration of the TNI AD officer mess in Berland, Matraman, Jakarta, Friday (6/10/2023). (ANTARA/HO-Indonesian Information Service TNI AD)

JAKARTA - Army Chief of Staff (Kasad) General TNI Dudung Abdurachman hopes that there will be modernization of the main weapon system (alutsista) in the Indonesian Army even though it depends on budget readiness.

"We want it (there) to modernize, because our defense equipment has been around for too long," said General Dudung when met on the sidelines of his activities attending the 43rd Malaysia-Indonesia General Border Committee (GBC Malindo) meeting in Jakarta, reported by ANTARA, Thursday, October 12.

He continued to modernize in principle the necessity is because the use of defense equipment needs to be adjusted to the progress of the times.

"Yes, it is necessary to modernize as long as it is the development of the times. We need to modernize it, but we really depend on the state budget," said Kasad.

Dudung while reviewing the Air Defense Artillery Heavy Weapon Shooting Exercise (Latbakjatrat Arhanud), in Lumajang, East Java, last month (28/9) said the Indonesian Army needed modernization, especially for old cannons.

"I feel proud that Arhanud soldiers are able to carry out integrated heavy weapons exercises. In the future, it will continue to be communicated to the Minister of Defense (Minister of Defense, ed.) regarding the modernization of defense equipment, especially the Indonesian Army's cannons so that they can develop according to the current threats," said the Army Chief of Staff after reviewing the training session as broadcast by the Indonesian Army Information Service.

Some of the TNI AD's defense equipment are quite old, one of which is the 76 mm mountain cannon, made by▁keyakinan in 1948, which is currently still being used by the Medan 11 Artillery Battalion/Geni Gate (Yonarmed 11/GG).

The rejuvenation of defense equipment and the purchase of new defense equipment are part of the fulfillment of the minimum main force (MEF) of the TNI, which is currently entering the third stage, namely for the 2020-2024 period.

The defense equipment targeted to be owned by the Indonesian Army by the end of 2024 includes 723,564 minor weapons, 1,354 cannons/rockets/missiles, 3,738 combat vehicles, and 224 aircraft.

So far, the TNI AD has strengthened several new defense equipment, including the Mistral Missile and Starstreak Missile which are currently strengthening the Indonesian Army's Air Defense Artillery. The Mistral missile, which is a special type to block attacks and attack in short distances (SHORAD), is a weapon made by MBDA from France that can be dismantled and can speed up at 2.8 mach.

In a position that has not yet been linked, the Atlas Mistral Missile can be prepared in a combat time of about 5 minutes, then the load time is less than 20 seconds.

The Indonesian Army on its official website said that the accuracy of the Mistral Missile fire was up to 95 percent.