Indonesia today announced its decision to buy 100 battle tanks from Germany after pulling out of a deal that was earlier awarded to Netherlands. The decision to cancel the $280 million contract comes after spending several months awaiting approval from the Dutch parliament.
"We are disappointed because we were serious in wanting to buy the Dutch tanks," defence ministry spokesman Hartind Asrin was quoted as saying. "We had gone to the warehouse to look at them and they were good. The price was also right, at around US$280 million".
"The Dutch government was agreeable to the deal, but the Dutch parliament kept us waiting. There was still no approval after eight to nine months of waiting, so last week we called off the deal," he said.
Asrin also added that 14 units are expected to arrive from Germany by the end of this year.
Indonesia has earmarked 99 trillion rupiah (S$13 billion) from 2010 to 2014 to modernise its defense systems, according to local media reports quoting National Development Planning Minister Armida Alisjahbana. One third of the budget has been set aside for maintenance with the remaining two thirds for purchasing defense systems and weapons, she was quoted as saying.
Source :http://www.defenseworld.net
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