JAKARTA - Minister of Defense (Menhan) Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin received an honorary visit from his colleague, Minister of Defense Pancis, Sebastien Lecornu, at the Ministry of Defense Office, Jakarta, Friday, January 31.
Head of the Defense Information Bureau of the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Frega Ingkiriwang Wenas, revealed the contents of the conversation between the two at the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Hall.
Talking about bilateral relations that have occurred with France, including the cooperation space in the personnel sector, there has been an increase not only to attend education, but also training. Because we know, in the last two or three years, defense cooperation between the two countries has shown an increase," he said.
The two Defense Ministers, he continued, also agreed that the Republic of Indonesia-France collaborate in maintaining stability and security in the region. Then, the two of them also discussed cooperation in the context of military equipment, especially military technology in terms of the production of military equipment that can create jobs.
Defense Minister Sjafrie and Lecornu are also committed to supporting military modernization in various ways, including defense technology which is also discussed on drone technology.
Earlier it was also discussed about war equipment, which is final, is Rafale which has characteristics that are not inferior to other fighter aircraft. About the Scorpene submarine there is also a commitment from the French side," he said.
This is important because Indonesia's geographical conditions are between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, so the existence of the submarine is a necessity.
Although it was not specific about the continuity of the 2025 La Perouse maritime exercise initiated by France in the Indian Ocean close to the Indonesian EEZ, ALKI II and ALKI III Indonesia on January 16-24, 2025, the two defense ministers agreed to show their commitment to maintaining stability and security in the region. One French nuclear aircraft carrier, FS Charles de Gaulle R91, is docked at Lembar Harbor, West Lombok, NTB, after leading the 2025 La Perouse exercise.
The two defense ministers are scheduled to visit the aircraft carrier on Saturday, January 31 tomorrow.
Both countries have similar characteristics, Indonesia is active free and France does not want hegemony, and we expect stability in the region because when there is stability in our region we can manage the economy," he said.
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Meanwhile, France is one of the European countries from which several of the main weapons of the TNI come from, including surface missiles to the surface of the Exocet Block I-Block III made by MBDA, the 155 mm Caesar heavy artillery cannon made by Nexter and the upcoming Rafale A and Rafale B fighters made by Dassault Aviation, as well as the Scorpene submarine from Naval Group, although the effective contract has not yet occurred.
In the past, the backbone of the Indonesian Army, AMX-13 tanks and NAS-330 Puma and NAS-332 Super Puma helicopters were obtained from France via Aerospatiale with IPTN. Currently, Super Puma has been developed into EC725/H225M Caracal by Airbus which is centered in Toulouse, France.
During the time the Ministry of Defense led by Prabowo Subianto, was Florence Parly as the French Defense Minister who visited the Ministry of Defense twice, and one of the important results was an effective contract for the purchase of 42 Rafale A and Rafale B units as well as weaponry, pilot and ground crew training packages and maintenance.
During his visit this time, Lecornu also inspected the honorary troops of the TNI trimatra accompanied by Defense Minister Sjafrie, paying tribute to the flag of the Red and White and Troix Coleur, then the two held an official conversation at the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Hall which was preceded by exchanging souvenirs.
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