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Subject: Indonesian Army Favours Locally-Made Weapons: Chief of Staff
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific January 23, 2009 Indonesian Military Favours Locally-Made Weapons, Says Army Chief [Unattributed article: 'TNI-AD Utamakan Produk Alutsista Dalam Negeri'] Indonesian Army (TNI AD) Chief of Staff General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo said that in future TNI AD would procure locally-made weapons systems in order to shed its reliance on foreign-made weapons and to promote the Indonesia's defence industry. General Purnomo made the comments when speaking to reporters in Denpasar on 21 January 2009 during his tour of IX/Udayana Military Area. "We have already conducted research into prioritising [procurement of] local products. Past experiences have shown that having to depend on foreign weapons is not in the best interests of our country," said Purnomo. General Purnomo said that the Army did not have any problems with locally-made weapons and had been using PT Pindad's SS-1 and SS-2 assault rifles for quite a long time. Indonesian companies have also recently started manufacturing several types of armoured personnel carriers. Source: Media Indonesia, Jakarta, in Indonesian 22 Jan 09
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