Progress of Indonesia’s First Mini-Submarine Hit by Budgetary Delays

09 November 2018

Indonesia's plan to build a mini-submarine in-country has gone into limbo because of a lack of funds. The Indonesian government's plan to evaluate the concept, which was initially conceived for special forces operations, will be delayed (image : SindoNews)

A plan by the Indonesian government to build a 22 m mini-submarine in-country has been hit by budgetary delays, an official from private shipbuilder PT Palindo Marine told Jane's on 7 November at the Indo Defence 2018 exhibition in Jakarta.

The shipyard has been in talks with the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD) for one mini-submarine since 2017, but a contract has yet to materialise due to the unavailability of funds, said Mukti Syarif Rivai, a naval architect at the company.

"We have made investments and prepared our facilities at Batam to construct the mini-submarine. But the contract has not been signed and we are unsure of the progress with this as we understand that the funds have not been released," he added.

PT Palindo Marine was initially scheduled to begin construction of the boat, which will be based on the concept that was first unveiled by the MoD's research and development branch at the 2016 iteration of Indo Defence, in late 2017.

The concept is a product of collaboration between the defence ministry, PT Palindo Marine, the Indonesian Co-ordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, and two Indonesian tertiary institutions: Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November (ITS) and the University of Indonesia (UI).

The design has an overall length of 22 m, an overall beam of 3 m, and a hull draught of 2.5 m. The boat displaces approximately 117 tonnes when surfaced and 127 tonnes when submerged. It has a maximum operating depth of 150 m, an endurance of six days, and a top speed of 10 kt when dived.

(Jane's)