Turkish-Indonesian Tank Project Prototype in Finishing Stage

The proptotype of a Turkish-Indonesian project to manufacture the KAPLAN battle tank in Indonesia will be displayed at the Army Day military parade in Indonesia in October 2018.

Turkish armored-vehicle manufacturer FNSS and Indonesian PT Pindad have been working on producing the KAPLAN tank in Indonesia following an agreement in 2015 and work on the prototype is in the finishing stages, Anadulu agency reported Friday.

Defense officials from Turkey and Indonesia recently discussed the progress of a cooperation agreement, including an ongoing project to produce a medium-weight battle tank, Indonesian sources said Friday as quoted by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

Director General of Defense Potential for Indonesia Sutrimo Sumarlan was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency, “this is the sixth annual Defense Industry Cooperation Meeting where we evaluated the progress of mutually beneficial agreements. We also exchanged information and introduced products created by each country’s defense industry.”

In addition to the KAPLAN tank project, “Turkey has offered design and technology cooperation for type-214 submarines,” said Sumarlan.

Sumarlan further stated that Ankara had discussed with Jakarta the joint production of medium-altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft.