Indonesia deploys Thales GM403 radar in South Kalimantan

Indonesia has installed a Thales GM403 air surveillance radar (pictured above in operation in Estonia) in South Kalimantan. (Thales Raytheon Systems)

A radar recently deployed by the Indonesian Air Force has been identified as a Thales Ground Master 403 (GM403) air-surveillance radar through Janes imagery analysis.

Indonesia's state-owned Antara news agency reported in mid-July that the mobile ground control interception (GCI) radar had been installed by the state-owned defence firm PT Len Industri in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan province.

In imagery published by Antara , the radar's antenna configuration and supporting structure have been assessed by Janes to be consistent with those of the GM403.

Thales, in partnership with PT Len, is delivering 13 GM403 radars to Indonesia under a contract awarded in 2023. In May, Thales said it had delivered the first two radars in 2025, with the remaining 11 scheduled for delivery over the following 12 months.

According to Janes data, the GM403 is a mobile air-surveillance radar operating in the 2–4 GHz frequency band.

The system has a maximum range of 470 km, a maximum detection altitude of 100,000 ft, and a scan rate of 60° per second. Each GM403 comprises three transmit/receive (T/R) module tiles, with each tile containing eight sub-modules. Each sub-module incorporates an ‘octopack' consisting of eight T/R units, giving the radar a total of 192 T/R channels.

Thales has previously said it is responsible for radar production, while PT Len is constructing radar stations, undertaking installation and integration activities, and managing civil works for the programme with Thales support. PT Len is also locally manufacturing the GM403's T/R octopacks.