Indonesian defence ministry, navy at impasse over ‘Red White' frigate'…

Arrowhead 140 is the largest of the three designs being considered for the UK's Type 31e general purpose frigate requirement. (Babcock)

The Indonesian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Indonesian Navy have reached an impasse over the ‘Red White' frigate programme's combat systems.

At the centre of the impasse is the defence ministry's insistence that the frigates be equipped with a Turkish combat management system (CMS) instead of a Thales-supplied one as originally planned, separate industry sources have confirmed to Janes.

The MoD signed a contract for two Iver Huitfeldt-class-derived frigates with state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL in April 2020. However, the contract only became effective in May 2021 after funding was secured.

Upon the contract becoming effectual, UK defence group Babcock disclosed in September 2021 that it signed a licence agreement to provide PT PAL with its Arrowhead 140 design for the two ships.

This design is in turn derived from the Royal Danish Navy's three-ship Iver Huitfeldt class, which were commissioned between January and November 2011.

The Indonesian frigates will each displace about 5,996 tonnes at full load and have an overall length of 140 m.

The suite of weapons that has been proposed for Indonesian requirements include a 12-cell vertical launching system (VLS) for medium-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), a separate 12-cell VLS for long-range SAMs, a 16-cell VLS for surface-to-surface missiles, two 76 mm naval guns, and a 35 mm close-in weapon system (CIWS).

Under the contract signed in April 2020 Indonesian Navy requirements largely called for the incorporation of Thales-made components, including its CMS and main radars.

However, the MoD has since selected Advent CMS from Turkish company Havelsan, as confirmed by a company spokesperson to Janes in May 2023.