Tuesday, May 6, 2008
House Defense Commission Urges Government to Develop Defense Industry
Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Member of the Defense Commission of the House of Representatives of the Democrats Party faction Marcus Silano, on behalf his colleagues, urged the government to constantly develop the defense industry.

The urge was prompted by the fact that there are now so many Air Force jet fighters which are currently out of commission and only sitting idle in their hangars.

"To overcome this problem, we have also urged the Air Force to build more air force depots for the repair of these aircraft. It is time for action, not merely waiting for external help," Marcus Silano pointed out.

He made the urge at a meeting with the Chief of the Iswahjudi Air Force Base Air Commodore Dede Rusumsi in Madiun, East Java, chaired by the House` commission I deputy chairman Arif Mudatsir Mandan of the United Development Party faction.

He also said that it was also about time for the Indonesian Air Force to start reducing its reliance on jet fighter manufacturing countries when it comes to repair work.

In the meantime, his fellow commission I member Bachrum Siregar of the Reform Star Party faction, regretted that so many jet fighters at the Iswahjudi Air Force base are still out of commission.

"This is harmful to the training program of our Air Force pilots," he said.

In response to the inputs from the visiting team of the House` defense commission, the Iswahjudi air force base commander said that actually efforts had already been made to build more depots for the Air Force, but the main problem was still financial.

And, he said, when Indonesia on the other day suffered from the impact of an embargo by a jet fighter producing country, he had tried his best to repair damaged fighters with whatever spare parts and components were still available at that time.

For these reasons, Dede Rusumsi appealed for financial support from the House` defense commission for the maintenance of the country’s weaponry, especially when it comes to operations.