Indonesia
approves acquisition of five Airbus A400Ms for USD2 billion
Ridzwan
Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
19 January
2017
Key Points
- The Indonesian government has approved the acquisition of five new Airbus A400M multirole aircraft
- The acquisition is a significant step in the Indonesian Air Force's modernisation efforts
Indonesia has
approved a sum of USD2 billion for the acquisition of five Airbus A400M Atlas
multirole aircraft to boost the country's military airlift capabilities,
multiple sources from within Indonesia's government and defence industry
confirmed to IHS Jane's on 18 January.
The airframes
will be acquired in the transport and utility configuration, and will be
operated across the Indonesian Air Force's (Tentara Nasional Indonesia -
Angkatan Udara: TNI-AU's) Aviation Squadrons 31 and 32.
The
acquisition, which received an official greenlight from the Indonesian House of
Representatives' commission on defence, intelligence, and foreign affairs
(Komisi I) in mid-January 2017, was approved with the condition that the final
three airframes undergo final fit-out at state-owned PT Dirgantara's facilities
in Bandung.
IHS Jane's
also understands that provisions will be made in the contract to allow
Indonesian engineers to study and observe the assembly of various major
aircraft components, including wings and fuselage shells, for the first two
airframes in Seville, Spain.
Indonesian
defence minister Ryamizard Ryacudu first indicated in mid-2016 that the
government is considering the acquisition of A400M aircraft to bolster the
TNI-AU's military airlift and transport capabilities, although no details on
numbers were given then.
According to
specifications provided by Airbus, the A400M can carry a maximum payload of 37
tonnes with a volume of 340 m3 in the logistics configuration. The aircraft can
also accommodate up to 116 fully equipped soldiers or paratroopers, seated in
four longitudinal rows, in the military transport configuration.
At its
maximum payload, the A400M has an operating range of 1,780 n miles (3,300 km),
while with a payload of up to 25 tonnes, the aircraft can take off and land on
austere airstrips as short as 750 m.
Original
post: janes.com
That would
make it $400 million per unit. I think it is very expensive being a cargo plane
I hope the RTAF don’t pick this plane better buy the Ilyushin IL-76MD-90A which
is around $150 million (not sure) with better cargo capacity.....
Related post:
A400M
Military Transport: Details
Ilyushin
IL-76MD-90A: Details
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