Indonesia Defence Minister Prabowo Receives Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan, Discusses Defence Cooperation

Minister of Defence Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto received a courtesy visit from Minister of Foreign Affairs Turkiye, Hakan Fidan at the Ministry of Defence on July 15.

Probowo and Hakan discussed on a number of items related to the bilateral relations between the two countries, including enhancing the capacity of the armed forces and the defence industries of both countries.

Currently, both countries are engaged in defence cooperations in the development of software defined radio as well as infantry fighting vehicles (IFV).

Turkiye – Indonesia Defence Cooperation

KAPLAN MT (HARIMAU) was developed jointly by FNSS and PT Pindad as part of a Defence Industry Cooperation Agreement signed between Turkiye and Indonesia. The vehicle participated in the Military Live Demonstration at last year’s Indo Defence Expo & Forum 2022 held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In scope of KAPLAN MT Project, FNSS completed the production of the first batch of vehicles with the serial production configuration. Ten tank platforms are produced in FNSS facilities and shipped to Indonesia for final turret assembly. The parts and subsystems for the production of remaining eight vehicles were exported to Indonesia as knock-down kits and delivered to FNSS’ partner PT Pindad. Production of the vehicles is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2023.

The new generation KAPLAN MT is the sole and exclusive modern Medium Weight Tank designed with rear powerpack and not a conversion of a variant from an existing IFV. Its unique design provides the lowest silhouette and highest power-to-weight ratio in its class and its platform is designed for optimum weight and high mobility performance. The vehicle’s design architecture provides a superior level of battlefield survivability that includes advanced ballistic, best-in-class mine protection systems and adequate firepower, the latter ensuring near-real time response against most battlefield threats.

As the KAPLAN MT project stands out in that it is Turkey’s first export project in the Tank Class, the project itself highlights the export experience and the succession of the technology transfer model of FNSS as the design perfection studies of the project completed in a short time and the production of the platforms concluded within the scope of the foreseen calendar. –adj/mhi (Pix: Ministry of Defence Indonesia)