The International Defense Intelligence Janes reported that the Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense held a virtual meeting with German shipbuilder Abeking & Rasmussen to discuss the possible procurement of an ocean-going hydrographic vessel. The virtual meeting on 3 September, was headed by Director General of Defense Potential, Brigadier General Aribowo Teguh Santoso. Also present during the meeting were representatives from Indonesian shipbuilders, PT Bandar Abadi, PT Palindo Marine and PT Batamec , state-owned electronics company PT Len, and the staff faculties at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
The Indonesian Ministry of Finance has approved a budget of US$143 million (IDR2.04 trillion) for the procurement of two newbuild hydrographic survey ships for the Indonesian Navy Hydrography and Oceanography Center. Delivery of the two vessels is expected within the 2020-2024 timeframe. Indonesian plan to buy ocean going hydrographic vessels had been stated in its defense planning since a few years ago. The original idea had raised about 10 year ago. Today operated only three hydrographic vessels, Indonesia have to replace former RN Hecla class with new one. The vessels will also be designed to be quickly modified for submarine rescue operations as needed.
Indonesian Navy Hydrography and Oceanography Center has 2 survey ships (KRI Rigel 933 and KRI Spica 934) equiped with modern survey instrument asmultipurpose research vessel and commissioning in 2015. The ship will also be assigned for search and rescue missions because it comes equipped with an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) to take underwater images up to a depth of 1,000 meters and send data periodically.The new ship is also equipped with remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or an underwater drone equipped with mechanic arms to provide visual information and take samples from the bottom of the ocean.
Abeking & Rasmussen (A&R) is a shipyard situated in Lemwerder, near Bremen in the German state of Lower Saxony. Today the yard continues to construct a similar spread of vessels, building yachts alongside naval vessels, pilot boats and similar ships. On January 29th, 2019 ABEKING & RASMUSSEN signed a contract with the Indonesian MoD for the design and construction of two Minehunting Vessels for the Indonesian Navy. Incorporating latest design the 62 m design has continuously been developed by ABEKING & RASMUSSEN over the past years ranging back to the German Navy‘s Frankenthal-class minehunter. The MCM suite includes a state of the art minehunting sonar as well as unmanned vehicles.
