The future Sampari-class fast attack craft KRI Panah is a successfully passed the Factory Acceptance Test for the Indonesian Navy. Many of the ship’s onboard systems, including endurance, ship performance, steering gear, emergancy steering gear test and progressive speed test were tested to validate performance met or exceeded Indonesian Navy specifications. The KRI Panah was launched into the water at PAL’s facilities in Surabaya during a ceremony with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as guest of honour. The fast attack craft will be capable of cruising under “Sea State Six” conditions while weapons employment can be performed in conditions of up to Sea State Four.
The Sampari-class (also known as KCR-60M) fast attack craft (fast missile boat) are a class of domestically designed and built fast attack craft operated by the Indonesian Navy. KRI Tombak (626) is built by local shipyard company PT PAL Indonesia (Persero), she is the sixth ship in her class. KCR-60M also have functions to conduct surveillance activities, as well as search and resuce (SAR). After the deployment of the first three Sampari-class vessels, the Ministry of Defense placed an order for another vessel from PT PAL, which was to have a higher capacity and stability in addition to being compatible to more advanced equipment.
The vessel, part of the KCR-60m family of fast attack missile craft, has a length of 60 metres (200 ft) and a beam of 8.1 m. At full charge, it has a draft of 2.5 to 2.6 m, and the ship’s displacement is 500 tonnes. It has a maximum speed of 28 knots (52 km/h), with a cruising speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). She can stay at sea for 5 days, with a range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km) and a crew capacity of 55. 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.
Indonesia originally planned to arm the Sampari class with a 57mm gun as the main armament but due to budget constraints, all four ships were initially armed with a Bofors 40 mm L/70 as the main gun. In 2018, there are plan to replace the Bofors 40mm with the Bofors 57mm L/70 Mk.3. The following batch that already incorporated with western subsystem and CMS from Terma will use BAE System Bofors 57mm Mk.3 instead. The first two of the Sampari class vessels (Hull 628 & 629) are equipped with four C-705 anti-ship missiles. The later batch of this class are expected to be fitted with MBDA anti ship missile solution (Exocet MM40 Block 3).
