05 April 2022

Indonesia establishes consortium to reverse engineer anti-ship missile

by Ridzwan Rahmat

A mock-up of the C-705 medium-range anti-ship missile. Indonesia has established a consortium to reverse engineer an anti-ship missile and, based on an image released by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, it is strongly believed to be the C-705, which closely resembles the weapon type. (Janes/Patrick Allen)

An Indonesian consortium mainly comprising state-owned enterprises has been established to reverse engineer an anti-ship missile type with a view of establishing the capability in-country.

The consortium is led by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense's (MoD's) Directorate for Technology and Defense Industry and includes state-owned enterprises namely aerospace company PT Dirgantara Indonesia, defence electronics enterprise PT Len, explosives manufacturer PT Dahana, and heavy vehicles and ammunition producer PT Pindad.

Meanwhile, the two private enterprises that have been named as part of the consortium are defence software company PT Mulia Laksana Utama and unmanned aerial vehicles manufacturer PT Aero Terra Indonesia. An agreement to formalise the consortium was signed on 1 April, the Indonesian MoD said in a statement on 2 April.

Among matters that were formalised include the scope of work that each company will be involved in and the tests and certification processes that will be carried out at various stages of the weapon's dismantling.

“We hope that the mastering of this technology will eventually lead to the existence of an indigenous anti-ship missile industry and the ability to produce the weapon in-country to support the armed forces' objectives of preserving the country's sovereignty,” the MoD said in the statement.

The MoD statement stopped short of disclosing the type of missiles that will be involved in the reverse engineering process. However, an image accompanying its statement closely resembled the C-705 medium-range anti-ship missile manufactured by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).

An Indonesian consortium mainly comprising state-owned enterprises has been established to reverse e...

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