Defense Minister Prabowo Targets Defend ID To Enter The Top 50 Of The World Defense Industry, This Is Jokowi's Response

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Defense Minister Prabowo, and SOE Minister Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - The holding of a state-owned company (BUMN) for the Defense Industry named Defend ID has just been inaugurated. The launch of this holding is part of the government's efforts to build and support the establishment of holding companies for companies engaged in the defense industry.

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto promised to bring the Defense Industry BUMN Holding named Defend ID to the 50th position of the world's largest defense industry company.

As is known, Defend ID consists of five state-owned companies in the defense industry, namely PT LEN Industri as the holding company, PT Pindad, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, PT PAL Indonesia and PT Dahana.

"Become the 50th largest industry in the world in the defense industry by 2024," he said at the inauguration of the Defense Industry BUMN Holding, Wednesday, April 20.

Furthermore, Prabowo said the presence of Defend ID is also expected to increase the level of domestic components to 50 percent for key technologies.

"With the existence of Defend ID, it is hoped that it can be a solution to accelerate the independence of the Indonesian defense industry in meeting the domestic defense equipment needs both in terms of quantity, human resources and technology quality," he explained.

In response to this, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said he would keep his promise to bring Defend ID to the top 50 positions in the world's defense industry.

"I wrote down this promise, I recorded this promise. Defend ID will be in the top 50 world defense companies," he said.

Jokowi admitted that he had been waiting for the formation of the holding for a long time. He admitted that he had urged the relevant ministers to immediately realize the establishment of the Defense Industry BUMN Holding.

"Therefore, I appreciate the establishment of the Defense Industry BUMN holding named Defend ID, which I have been waiting for for a long time, and I am pursuing it," he said.

Furthermore, Jokowi also hopes that the presence of Defend ID can be a leap to transform in building a modern defense industry ecosystem in the future.

"And able to compete in a healthy and profitable," he said.