Indonesia requests for 8 additional ASW and ASuW-capable naval helicopters

One of the TNI-AL's ASW-capable Airbus AS565MBe Panther helicopter. Photo c/o Tempo.

The Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) has submitted a request for funding from the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MOD) to allow them to acquire a new batch of eight (8) new naval combat helicopters.

The helicopters shall be capable of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW), which the TNI-AL has been trying to improve for the last few years.

According to British defense media outlet IHS Jane’s which disclosed the information at the sidelines of the ongoing Singapore Airshow 2020, the total sum of the acquisition project costs around IDR5,191 trillion (US$375 million), and will be sourced from defense budget allocated for the years 2020 to 2024. 

The TNI-AL is already an operator of the ASW-capable variant of the Airbus Helicopters AS565MBe Panther, and is in the process of updating some of its standard Panther helicopters to either ASW or ASuW capable combat helicopters. 

It is highly possible though that the new request will be for a helicopter which can conduct both ASW and ASuW, which is said to be missing with the AS565MBe Panther due to its size limitations.

[1] Jane’s Defence Weekly