The Indonesian Navy received the fifth the Sempari-class Fast Missile Boat fully built by state-owned shipbuilding company PAL Indonesia in the East Java capital of Surabaya on Sunday. Also present in the handover ceremony were Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, Chief General Andika Perkasa and Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Yudo Margono. The new vessel will need to undergo a series of tests before officially coming into service with the Navy. The Indonesian Defense Ministry has placed an order for vessels of the same variant, with the sixth still under construction.
The Sampari-class fast attack craft are a class of domestically designed and built fast attack craft operated by the Indonesian Navy. The Sampari-class batch-1 vessels have a relatively weak radar cross section (RCS). The BPPT Indonesia mentioned weaknesses in the shape of the upper building and the hull that were easily detected by enemy radar. The influence of electro-magnetic wave interference on the installation of several communication antennas on the ship will reduce the antenna performance in communication. The Batch-1 ships are also considered less reliable to deal with in high waves on the ocean because the ships’ size and the lack of fin stabilizer.
To overcome these problem, National Research and Innovation Agency made some recommendations to improve the design of the batch-2 and batch-3 Sampari class. The ships also known as KCR-60M and all ships built by local company PT PAL in Surabaya. These ships are made with composition of aluminium and high-tensile steel in hull parts which are also a domestic product obtained from state-owned foundry PT Krakatau Steel in Cilegon. The fifth fast missile boat is the first variant to be fully built by PAL – from the platform to its radar and weaponry system installations. The vessel measures 60 meters in length with an overall beam of 8.1 meters and a displacement of up to 500 tons.
The Sempari-Class Batch-3 is fitted with CMS (Terma) will use BAE System Bofors 57mm mk3 main gun, 20-mm Shipborne gun, and French-made 40-mm Exocet anti-ship missiles. For the secondary gun, the ships are armed with two Yugoimport-SDPR M71/08 20 mm cannon at the rear. Four previous Sempari-class vessels were retrofitted with russian made Burevestnik 57mm AU-220M Naval RCWS. The new batch of this ship are expected to bear MBDA Exocet MM-40 Block III anti ship missile solution. Sampari-class vessels were equipped with four C-705 anti-ship missiles. KRI Sampari and KRI Tombak were modified to give room for the installation of TR-47C fire control radar behind the main mast and one NG-18 (H/PJ-13) 30 mm CIWS at the stern.
