Philippines Eyes Indonesia-made Combat Vehicles

The Philippine National Defense Department has expressed interest in buying combat vehicles from Indonesia’s state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad.

"If our end user is interested, we will get [the combat vehicles] from PT Pindad and other [Indonesian] industries," the department's undersecretary for finance and material, Raymundo Elefante, said during a visit to Pindad’s factory in Bandung, West Java, on Friday to The Jakarta Post.

The visit was a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries on logistics and the defense industry.

The undersecretary expressed particular interest in Pindad's armored personnel carriers (APC), such as the Anoa and Komodo, as well as in the Harimau medium battle tank recently developed by the weapons manufacturer. 

The Philippine delegation led by the Commanding General of the Philippines Army, Lt. Gen. Macairog S. Alberto, AFP carried out a visit to PT Pindad (Persero) in order to directly review Tiger Medium Tank, various other products and production facilities owned by PT Pindad (27 / 9).

The event was also attended by the Philippines Presidential Advisers on Military Affairs, Lt. Gen. Arthur I. Tabaquero (Retd.), Director General Pothan Kemhan, Bondan Tiara Sofyan, Managing Director, Abraham Mose, Board of Directors and Pindad Commissioners.

"We are interested in combat vehicle products, especially Tigers. In the future we will discuss further about the potential for cooperation related to procurement and development of Tiger competencies," Alberto explained.

The Philippine military delegation also acknowledged interest in one of PT Pindad's flagship industrial products, Excava Amphibious, as noted by the official statement from Government of West Java Province, where PT Pindad was located.

The activity was then continued by carrying out a plant tour and directly observing various products, production facilities and the special vehicle production process.

A visit to the production facilities of the special vehicle division was enthusiastically responded by the Philippine Delegation especially when witnessing the parade of various ranpur and rantis made by Pindad including: Komodo, Anoa, Panzer 8x8 and Medium Tank Tiger. Representatives of the Philippine Delegation also tried to directly drive the Tiger Medium Tank.

Furthermore, the Philippines Delegation reviewed various weapons products and ended with shooting activities with various weapons made by Pindad, namely SS2 V4 rifles, Mag4 Pistols and G2 Pistols. JO