42 Warships to Take Part in Joint Exercise

Surabaya (Antara) - A total of 42 Indonesian warships of various types will take part in a joint exercise to be held in the waters of Situbondo coast in East Java on May 2-5. "We will use our maximum strength at the joint exercise this time. About 6,000 soldiers will be involved in it," said Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Marsetio in the Eastern Fleet Command here on Friday. Marsetio led naval soldiers' preparation ceremony and inspected the preparedness of Navy primary weaponry to be used in the large-scale drill. The warships include frigate ships, corvette ships, landing platform docks (LPD), and submarines. The Navy will also send 59 amphibian tanks, including 17 units of BMP-3F, 33 units of BTR-50, seven units of LVT-7A1 tank, and two units of Marine BVP-2 tank. At least two units of multi-barrels RM-70/Grad rocket launcher and four units of 105 millimeters Howitzer as well as 2,000 marine soldiers will support the weaponry. Meanwhile, the Navy Aviation Center (Puspenerbal) will send three Cassa planes for maritime patrol and five helicopters for air surveillance. Admiral Marsetio said the joint exercise is designed to improve soldiers' professionalism in conducting military operations as well as to test TNI strength in planning, actuating and controlling joint operation mechanism. "I hope all TNI personnel will be able to carry out the exercise with maximum capacity," Marsetio added. The total number of TNI personnel from three forces; the Navy, the Air Force and the Army who will be involved in the exercise reaches 16,745. The Army will send a total of 14 Scorpio tanks, five Stormer APC tanks, two Stromer Co tanks, 13 AMX tanks, 21 units of howitzer, 12 MI-17 helicopters, 12 Bell helicopters and three Bolcow helicopters to the exercise. The Air Force meanwhile will field at least five Sukhoi SU 27/30 multi-purpose jet fighters, five F-16 jet fighters, five Hawk SPO jet fighters, five Hawk PBR jet fighters, 11 C-130 cargo aircraft and two B-737 reconnaissance aircraft. The Navy will conduct a general exercise in Java Sea and amphibian military operation in Banongan Beach in Situbondo on May 2-5. The next drill will be conducted in Sangatta, East Kalimantan Province, and Bima, West Nusa Tenggara Province, on May 6-29. (*)