Indonesia signs USD82 million LOI for Pandur II IFVs

A Pandur II configured as an infantry fighting vehicle, seen here at the 2018 Indo Defence exhibition in Jakarta. (Christopher F Foss)

Indonesia’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) and state-owned arms manufacturer PT Pindad has downplayed media reports claiming that a USD82 million contract for 22 8×8 Pandur II vehicles has been signed.

In separate clarifications received by Jane’s on 19 and 22 April, officials from the ministry and the company explained that what was signed at Bandung, Indonesia, on 12 April is a letter of intent (LOI) and not a final procurement contract as widely reported.

A separate procurement process, and subsequent contract for the Pandur II CZ armoured fighting vehicles, referred to locally as the ‘Cobra’ infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), will be initiated in due course once there is further clarity on where funds for the programme will come from, said the MoD official.

Funds for the programme are being requested under Indonesia’s national defence budget, but there is a possibility that Indonesia may utilise a defence credit facility for the procurement. Either way, the resulting contract will require the vehicles to arrive in Indonesia in a ‘semi knocked-down’ state, with assembly to be done at PT Pindad’s facilities in Bandung, the official added.

Indonesia is trialling four Pandur II vehicles, which were received from Czech company, Excalibur Army (Czechoslovak Group), in September 2017. Two of these vehicles are in the IFV configuration with remote-controlled 30 mm guns, while the other two are being trialled in the fire-support vehicle (FSV) configuration with 105 mm cannons.

However, neither the MoD nor the PT Pindad official that Jane’s