Indonesia is working to expand defense cooperation with France to include not just military equipment sales but also knowledge transfer, cooperative development, and joint manufacturing of defense equipment. During a meeting between the Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers of both countries in Paris, the Indonesian Foreign Minister stressed the importance of this collaboration in integrating Indonesia into the global supply chain for the defense sector. As a result, the Minister called for collaborative ventures and joint industrial partnerships between Thales Group and PT Len Industri.
Thales Group is a French multinational corporation that develops, creates, and manufactures systems and equipment for the aerospace, defense, and security industries. Meanwhile, PT Len Industri is an Indonesian state-owned firm that makes electronics for the defense sector, among others.
The Indonesian Foreign Minister also underlined Indonesia’s desire to collaborate in maritime security, highlighting France’s support for technology transfer and capacity-building assistance to the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla RI). The Ministry also encouraged collaboration in cybercity between the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) and Thales.
Recently, Indonesia launched its SATRIA-1 satellite utilizing a Falcon 9-5500 rocket manufactured by Space-X, a US space transportation corporation. Thales Alenia Space, a French firm, built SATRIA-1 in Cannes. The manufacturing of SATRIA-1 was agreed upon in 2019, and the development of Indonesia’s SATRIA-1 multipurpose satellite began in 2020.
The Indonesian Ambassador in Paris believes SATRIA-1 will be a watershed point in Indonesia’s digital revolution. SATRIA-1 will orbit Papua for 15 years to provide 150,000 public service internet connections in border, outlying, and undeveloped areas.
(Sources: ANTARA News; Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Indonesia)
