Indonesia pitches transport planes to PAF

Just three days after President Aquino cited the government's P75 billion military upgrade to help protect the country's maritime territory, proposals from defense industrial firms started to pour in.

The latest is PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), the three-decade old state-owned aircraft maker, which is selling its latest fleet of cargo planes to Southeast Asian neighbors.

On Friday, it showcased to Filipino defense officials one of its latest products – the CN295, a military transport aircraft that it jointly designed with Spain-based Airbus Military.

CN295 is like a mini-version of the C130, the primary cargo aircraft of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

They share the same functions – transport of troops or cargo, medical evacuation, surveillance missions, and maritime patrol.

With its smaller size, the CN 295 will be ideal for the Philippines, an archipelago made up of several islands, where landing and take-off capabilities of some airstrips are very limited, according to Sonny Ibrahim, PTDI assistant director for quality control systems.

"We believe that Philippine needs small and medium aircraft rather than big aircraft," he said. "Why? Because we have the same natural geographical condition [here] like Indonesia. There's a lot of forest, lot of hilly area, short strips or short runways, and unprepared runways. This aircraft can do with these situations."

Maj. Gen. Wilfredo Ona, chief of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), said: "Maganda ang eroplano [The plane is good], very stable."

He said it would be good for short haul flights to transport small groups, including paratroopers, and cargo.

With the CN295, the AFP can make more frequent trips to the Kalayaan Group of Islands in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

Besides maritime patrol, the aircraft also has an anti-submarine capability because it can launch torpedoes.

Most importantly, PTDI said the aircraft would be cost-effective, claiming that it could halve operational and maintenance costs, compared to planes from competitors.

The price-tag? $36 million, or a little less than P1.5 billion.

Indonesia's Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsuddien, who traveled to the Philippines to make the pitch, said: "This is part of defense cooperation among the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Nation] countries. And now we are coming to ... strengthen and also to enhance cohesiveness while introducing an Indonesian defense industrial product."

Besides the Philippines, PTDI is also looking to sell its aircraft to Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia.

The proposal will have to go through a study by the Department of National Defense (DND) and may be considered in the Medium-Lift Acquisition Project,

  ● Solarnews