Indonesia to Be the Recipient of Eight Frigates From Italian Shipbuilder Fincantieri

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has announced that it struck a deal with the Indonesian Ministry of Defense to provide eight frigates for the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL).

The agreement is in line with Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto’s ongoing efforts to modernize the Indonesian Armed Forces or TNI’s aging and obsolete weapons systems.

“Fincantieri…and the Ministry of Defense of Indonesia, have signed a contract for the supply of 6 FREMM class frigates, [as well as] the modernization and sale of 2 Maestrale class frigates,” claimed Fincantieri in its website.

“Fincantieri will be the prime contractor” for the deal, which “is of the utmost importance to strengthen the collaboration between [Indonesia and Italy] in a strategic area of the Pacific.”

Also read: Indonesian Ministry of Defense: Defense Budget Still in the Works

Fincantieri added that it will modernize the Maestrale-class frigates in Italy, once the Italian Navy decommissioned the vessels. The company maintained that the deal is just as beneficial economically, as they are strategically.

“The construction of the frigates will ensure significant employment benefits not only for several Italian shipyards of the Group in the next years…and will see the collaboration [with Indonesian shipbuilder] PT-PAL shipyard [in Surabaya, East Java],” Fincantieri noted.

According to Kompas.id, the FREMM class frigate is a joint Italian-French project for their navies. The 144-meter long vessels weighs 6,500 tons and has a top speed of 27 knots.

The FREMM class frigates’ capabilities included sonar detection and a variety of weapons, including 127/64 volcano guns. The ships also carries rigid hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) and two helicopter hangars

Also read: Indonesian Defense Chief Prabowo in Austria for Purchase of Typhoon Jets

Fincantieri manufactured eight Maestrale frigates for the Italian Navy in the 1980’s, with the last vessel commissioned in 1985 for Italy. The Italian Navy currently operates two Maestrale-class frigates, which they are phasing out in favor of the Bergamini-class frigate.

The vessels are123 meter in length, and at 3,040 tons, weighs less than half of the FREMM frigates. Manned by 225 officers and men, the Maestrale-class frigates boasted a variety of weapons, among them a range of antiship missiles, torpedoes, and 127 mm cannon.

Aside from the FREMM and Maestrale frigates, Prabowo also procured Eurofighter Typhoon multipurpose jets from Austria and F-15 EX fighters from the United States.

(Writer: Achmad Nasrudin Yahya | Editors: Icha Rastika, Rakhmat Nur Hakim)

Source: 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/06/11/11453461/prabowo-segera-datangkan-8-kapal-perang-fregat-buatan-italia. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/06/11/14001891/ini-spesifikasi-kapal-fregat-buatan-italia-yang-akan-didatangkan-prabowo?page=all#page2.