Indonesia has offered to sell Pakistan defense equipment, local media reported Wednesday.
According to state-run news agency Antara News, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political, Security, and Legal Affairs Wiranto discussed defense sales with the commander of Pakistan’s armed forces, General Rashad Mahmood, during their meeting on Tuesday.
“We have also offered our defense equipment to them,” Wiranto was quoted as saying at his office.
Among the items considered, Wiranto said, were CN-235 aircraft, the Anoa armored personnel carrier (APC), and assault rifles.
The CN-235 is produced by the state-owned PT Dirgantara Indonesia, with military version CN235-220 military version as well as the CN235-220 MPA which comes in anti-submarine warfare, maritime patrol aircraft, and maritime surveillance aircraft versions.
The Anoa, a 6×6 APC, is manufactured by another state-owned Indonesian firm, PT Pindad, and was first unveiled back in 2006.
The move should come as no surprise. As I have noted before, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been stressing the need for the country to promote its own defense industry, and one way to do that is to find new markets for the products that state-owned defense firms are helping develop (See: “An Indonesian Defense Revolution Under Jokowi?“).
Wiranto added that defense cooperation between the two countries had been going on for years with several staff and student exchanges, visits, and engagements, adding that Mahmood had expressed interest in deepening ties.
“Relations between the two countries armies are very close. General Rashad Mahmood has asked for maintaining and developing that relationship,” he said.
During his visit to Indonesia, Mahmood also called on the Chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces General Gatot Nurmantyo. Both of them discussed ways to enhance defense cooperation as well as other geopolitical issues and matters of bilateral interest, including the threat from terrorism and violent extremism.
Earlier, upon Mahmood’s arrival at the headquarters of the Indonesian armed forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI), he was greeted with the Guard of Honor.