Indonesia To Receive First Fincantieri PPA In September
INDONESIA will be taking delivery of its first Multipurpose Combat Ships/Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura (MPCS/PPA) class offshore patrol vessels ships from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri in September. According to Fincantieri, the first PPA, KRI Brawijaya will set sail for Indonesia in July with its Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) crew at the helm and expected to arrive in Surabaya by early September. Once in service, the two ships would be the TNI-AL’s largest combat vessels.
Furthermore, the second PPA, KRI Prabu Siliwangi will be handed over to the TNI-AL by the end of this year. The transfer of technology (TOT) and offset programme was addressed to indirect activities and to support vessels during their life cycle, to allow in country self-reliance and self-sustainability. Several agreements have been drawn up to ensure the proper TOT is shared to create the most effective team to support the ships.
Indonesia signed a US$1.3 billion deal for the two brand-new 143-metre long PPAs in Light Plus configuration last March, following Indonesia’s urgent request for large combatant vessels. The two vessels were originally destined for the Italian Navy as Marcantonio Colonna and Ruggiero do Lauria, and later renamed as KRI Brawijaya and KRI Prabu Siliwangi January 29 this year. Fincantieri attributes the acquisition to the campaign of two Italian Navy PPAs around the region in 2023 and 2024.“This supply contract stems from the interest generated during the campaigns of the MPCS/PPA vessels Francesco Morosini and Raimondo Montecuccoli in Indonesia in 2023 and 2024, respectively. It marks a significant milestone in the strategic partnership between Fincantieri and the Indonesian Ministry of Defence.”
Furthermore, Indonesia’s interest in procuring the decommissioned Italian Navy aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi is close to fruition. Several years back, the then-defence minister Prabowo Subianto and the TNI-AL had registered its interest in the carrier which was built by Fincantieri, with the TNI-AL chief of staff, Admiral Muhammad Ali visiting the Giuseppe Garibaldi last May. Indonesian interest in the ship’s transfer was renewed last month following Italian media reports. Equipped with a ski-jump ramp, the carrier is officially designated as an aircraft-carrying cruiser and is speculated to possibly serve as a drone carrier once in service. Indonesia’s Republikorp and Turkiye’s Baykar Group signed a deal in 2024 to produce around 60 naval variants of TB-3 and nine Akincis. –shp/adj/dl (Pix:FINCANTIERI, BAYKAR)