Indonesia To Acquire Unmanned Spy Plane

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- Indonesia's National Defence Forces (TNI) will acquire a spy plane in the form of an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft (UAV) from the Kital Philippine Corp this year. "It will be a brand new aircraft and delivered this year," Deputy Defence Minister of Indonesia Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin was quoted by news agency Antara as having said here Thursday. Sjafrie said the spy plane would have the capability of cruising over a distance of 200km for 15 hours. The order for the plane was placed with the Kital Philippine Corp as part of a 2004 military hardware procurement programme, and the relevant contract was signed, two years later. Indonesia was in dire need of the spy plane for intelligence operations although it could also be used for other purposes such as weather forecast, said Sjafrie. The TNI had called for a tender for four UAVs for its Strategic Intelligence Service (BAIS), as early as 2006, and the tender was won by Searcher Mk II, through a Philippine company, Kital Philippine Corp. To finance the purchase of the aircraft at the price of US$6 million per unit, Indonesia had obtained the export credit backing of the Leumi Bank of Britain and Union Bank of the Philippines. However, because of strong criticism from the House of Representatives at the time, the programme was put on hold. -- BERNAMA