Roundup: Purchase of Indonesia's presidential helicopter sparks controversy at home

The announcement on the purchase of new helicopters from foreign country for presidential and VVIP use to replace the existing ones sparked controversy in the country.

The purchase is considered not urgent and would not side up domestic aviation industry which is considered capable to produce that kind of helicopters.

The purchase of Agusta-Westland AW 101 medium lift helicopter was confirmed by Indonesian air forces recently. The initial delivery of the helicopter jointly produced by British and Italy was scheduled on mid next year, to be followed later with two units of the kind in the following year.

The procurement of the helicopters was intended to replace the existing presidential helicopters, the Super Puma produced in 1980s, which have been in service for decades.

Indonesian Air Forces Spokesperson Rear Marshall Dwi Badarmanto said that the decision to opt for AW 101 was resulted from various considerations and discussions among members of the air forces' special team.

"We have considered the Cougar, Super Puma and AW-101. Finally the choice was the AW-101," Dwi said on Monday to name types of helicopter considered by the team to replace the presidential helicopters.

He said that the AW-101 helicopter has more capabilities required for its jobs to become VVIP transporter. The helicopter, he said, was powered by three engines, equipped with various security instruments, bullet proof and the capacity to carry 13 passengers, or more than the existing ones.

He added that purchase of the presidential helicopters was part of Indonesian air forces' strategic plans for 2015-2020. Those helicopters would be operated by Squadron 45, based in Halim Perdanakusumah air forces base.

The procurement of the new helicopters was also intended to assure the safety of president and vice president during their visits to remote areas across the country.

Responding to the new presidential helicopters procurement plans, a legislator in the parliament said that such a plan was not urgent, adding that the existing presidential helicopters were still capable to carry out their tasks.

"The usage of VVIP helicopters was actually not that frequent, so their service period was still long," Mahfudz Siddiq, Head of Commission I at the parliament for defense and foreign policy said on Monday, referring to the existing Super Puma presidential helicopters.

He also deplored the purchase which was conducted amid economy slowdown experienced by the nation and the efforts to recover the growth.

He reminded that government had just purchased a Boeing Business Jet for presidential plane, saying that the purchase of the helicopter for the same purpose was unnecessary.

Another legislator from Commission I TB Hasanuddin also criticized the AW-101 purchase, saying that the air forces can simply refurbish the existing Super Puma to meet the need of a modern presidential helicopter.

He said that price tag of AW-101 was 55 million U.S. Dollars per unit, or higher than Super Puma helicopter that can be assembled by domestic aviation firm of PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) at a price of 40 million U.S. dollars with security instruments par with AW-101.

Tantowi Yahya, another legislator from the same commission said that the purchase on AW-101 helicopters was straying the nation's drive to love domestic products.

"Now is about the time to show our alignment to our defense and aviation industries. Don't be rhetorical, should the president is doubting the domestic products. It can be a bad signal for the other users," Tantowi said in the parliament building on Monday.

PTDI, has been operating since 1976, is licensed to produce several types of planes and helicopters from prominent producers in the world. Its productions such as Bell 412, Eurocopter's Super Puma helicopters and C 295 and CN 235 planes have been exported to various countries.

PTDI is also a sub-contractor of plane components for Boeing, Airbus and Fokker. Enditem