Indonesia preparing for war

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http://www.janes.com/article/44320/i...f-scs-tensions

The Indonesian Armed Forces (Tentera Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) displayed its latest military acquisitions on 7 October at the country's annual military parade against a backdrop of growing tensions in the South China Sea.

The parade was held to celebrate the TNI's 69th anniversary and to bid farewell to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who steps down in late October. The former four-star general is considered in some quarters to have been instrumental in driving TNI reform and modernisation since he became president in 2004.

"For the first five years of my tenure the focus was on replacing equipment and platforms that were obsolete, adapting our assets with command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [C4ISR] capabilities, and improving interoperability between the services," said Yudhoyono during an address at the parade. "Subsequently, the focus of the last five years was to increase the number of assets by acquiring new platforms to ensure that Indonesia has the capability to better defend our sovereignty on every inch of our territory."

Indonesia's defence budget has grown significantly during Yudhoyono's tenure from IDR22 trillion (USD1.7 billion) in 2005 to IDR95 trillion in 2015. The most notable acquisitions made during this period include Chang Bogo-class attack submarines from South Korea, Leopard main battle tanks (MBTs) from Germany, and Apache AH-64E helicopters from the United States.

Indonesia has indicated that it will deploy some of its latest acquisitions, including the Apache helicopters, to the Natuna Islands. The territory sits on Indonesia's maritime borders with Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam at the southern tip of the South China Sea. Indonesia sees the islands as a potential conflict zone because of growing Chinese assertiveness in staking maritime claims around the region. Jakarta's push to establish an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in waters surrounding the islands overlaps with Beijing's 'nine-dash-line' claim in the South China Sea.

The Apache helicopters were among the assets displayed at the parade alongside the Leopard MBTs, Rheinmetall-made Oerlikon Skyshield air-defence system units, and KH179 155 mm towed howitzers from South Korea.

A number of new vessels recently received by the Indonesian Navy (Tentera Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) were also displayed in a sail-pass during the parade. These included PC-43 patrol boats, KCR-40 and KCR-60M missile attack craft, and three Bung Tomo-class missile corvettes.

The three corvettes arrived from the United Kingdom in September 2014. The controversially named lead ship in the class, KRI Usman Harun (359), appeared in the sail-pass despite initial reports that it would not participate. The corvette is named after two Indonesian marines convicted over the 1965 bombing of MacDonald House in Singapore in which three civilians were killed. Ties between Jakarta and Singapore were strained after Singapore protested over the naming of the ship and decreed that the ship would not be allowed to enter Singapore's territorial waters or participate in any activities with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

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