President Jokowi Tells TNI to Hold Strategic Weapons Testing Regularly

President Jokowi in a group photo with military officers participating in an Armada Jaya XXXIV / 2016 Exercise in North Madura, Java Sea, on Wednesday (14/9)

The testing of Indonesian National Defense Forces’(TNI) strategic weapons and the exercise of the personnel should be carried out regularly so that the strategic weapons could be kept up-to date, President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo said.

When attending the exercise, codenamed “Armada Jaya XXXIV / 2016” at the dock of Banjarmasin-592, an Indonesian naval battleship on Wednesday (14/9), President Jokowi in his capacity as TNI supreme commander said that without routine exercise, TNI cannot improve and keep its strategic weapons up-to date.

On that occasion, the naval personnel performed several attractions and demonstration of their skills, including a RBU 6000 anti-submarine rocket launched from four Indonesian naval battleships, namely Kujang, Layang, Clurit, and Ajax battleships.

The Indonesian Navy with command from President Jokowi also conducted the trial of C-705 missiles and Surface and Underwater Torpedoes (SUT) targeting Karimata 960 battleship.

The event was aimed to measure the capability of naval personnel, operational strength, and readiness of a well-equipped naval integrated fleet weapon system (SSAT) in supporting joint military operations in the future.

This year’s exercise involved 39 battleships of various types, eight aircraft and 7,500 personnel with their combat vehicles.

According to President Jokowi, the exercise which is held regularly every two years aims to map out TNI strategic weapons.

“This is the peak event of the exercise which aims to test our strategic weapons. We already tested missile, artillery cannon, and anti-submarine missile,” the President added.

The “Armada Jaya XXXIV / 2016” exercise will be continued tomorrow (15/9) and will be marked with the landing of amphibious personnel in Situbondo.

“The event involved more than 7,500 personnels. I think the exercise should be held every year, and we will show that our strategic weapons are not inferior to those of other countries,” President Jokowi said.

President Jokowi explained that Indonesia will make its own strategic weapons.

“ I think we cannot only buy the weapons but also learn (from the weapons that we have just bought) whether we can produce the weapons of not. I think if we can learn from it we can create self-sufficiency in defense equipment,” the President stated.

The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Ade Supandi, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Military Secretariat of the President Hadi Tjahjanto, Presidential Security Details’ (Paspampres) Commander Maj. Gen. (Marshal) Bambang Suswantono, and East Java Governor Soekarwo accompanied President Jokowi during the event. (UN/ES) (RAS/EP/YM/Naster)