Defense Minister Prabowo And French Defense Minister Meet To Discuss Defense System

JAKARTA - Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto received an honorary visit from the Minister of the Armed Forces of the French Republic Florence Parly and a delegation at the Ministry of Defense Building in Jakarta, Thursday, to discuss increasing cooperation and strengthening bilateral defense relations between Indonesia and France. the defense sector," said Defense Minister Prabowo during a press conference in Jakarta, Thursday, February 10. The meeting was a continuation of the signing of the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) in Paris, on June 28, 2021, to strengthen and expand the scope of defense cooperation. Based on several Letters of Intent for the main weapon system (defense equipment), Indonesia and France have started a Strategic Armament Working Group (Dassault Rafale, Scorpene Submarine, Frigate and MBDA Missile). Thus, the next agenda will prioritize the discussion of procurement contracts and technology transfer. According to Prabowo, bilateral relations between Indonesia and France in the defense sector have existed for quite a long time, since 1950. namely that we have signed a defense cooperation agreement on June 27, 2021," he added. This, he continued, requires ratification from parliament to be implemented properly. Not only in the field of defense equipment, defense cooperation in the field of education and training is also carried out, between other activities are exchange visit programs and planned visits by Indonesian marines to New Caledonia. "So far, more than 300 Indonesian military personnel have completed education and training programs in France," Prabowo said. The education program implemented in France in 2021 is school-level education. Army Staff and Commander n Army​​​​​​ (Seskoad) and Naval Specialization School. As a follow-up to the meeting between the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in November 2021, in Jakarta, the Ministry of Defense welcomed the plan to develop a 2+ cooperation mechanism 2 between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of the two countries, in order to increase cooperation between the two countries, he explained. The bilateral meeting between the Indonesian Ministry of Defense and the Delegation of the Minister of the Armed Forces of the French Republic ended with the signing of several cooperation agreements, witnessed by Prabowo and Florence Parly. The cooperation agreement includes a contract to purchase six Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft between the Head of the Defense Facilities Agency (Kabaranahan) of the Ministry of Defense and Dassault Aviation, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of cooperation in the field of submarine research and development between PT PAL with Naval Group, collaboration between Dassault Aviation and PT DI for maintenance, repair and maintenance overhauling of French aircraft in Indonesia, cooperation in the telecommunications sector between PT LEN and Thales Group, as well as cooperation in the manufacture of large-caliber munitions between PT Pindad and Nexter Munition. Indonesia. "We are very happy that Indonesia chose France as a partner in the defense equipment modernization program, especially for fighter aircraft. I believe Indonesian companies can establish partnerships to support other TNI defense equipment modernization programs in order to develop Indonesia's national strategic industry," said Parly. on many occasions and still carrying out missions in a number of very challenging fields. "This choice shows Indonesia's trust in France as a testament to our very strong and dynamic strategic partnership," Florence Parly.