Page 32 - ADT APRIL - MAY 2021 Online Magazine

speed of 250 km/h, 250 km operational radius
and has a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet
with an endurance of 30 hours. While there’s
still no publicly available information regard-
ing the weapons it will be armed with, there's [ ANALYSIS ]
an indication that Turkish made MAM (Smart
Micro Munition) could be the preferred choice
aside from locally made 70 mm folding fin aerial
rockets (FFAR) and bombs.

Loitering munitions, a recent trend in warfare
where semi or fully autonomous flying drones
loiter around the airspace above the target
area, are being developed in many countries.
(KAI) and PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) when Indonesia missed PT Enrol Sistem Indonesia, a startup company
the payment deadline for its 20 per cent share of the project. specializing in drone autopilot control systems,
revealed the prototype of a loitering munition
Previously known as KF-X (referred also as IF-X in Indonesia), the called “Enrol Pilot” in December 2020. The
KF-21 is a low observable 4.5th generation jet fighter that can be company plans to develop this prototype with
further developed into a full 5th generation stealth fighter. Designed swarming capability, so that hundreds of drones
as a multi-role combat aircraft, it can carry assorted air-to-air mis- can be deployed at once.
siles such as medium range or Beyond Visual Range (BVR) MBDA
Meteor or AIM-120 AMRAAM as well as AIM-9X and IRIS-T for Powered by an electrical jet engine, the “Enrol
short range aerial combat. For ground / surface attack missions, Pilot” can reach a maximum speed of 250 km/h.
it is also capable of being armed with stand-off long range missiles It has a maximum operational range of 30 km
like Taurus KEPD 350 including, but not limited to, anti-radiation and and will be able to loiter above the target area
anti-ship missiles as well as assorted smart munitions. Following for at least 30 minutes. Each of the “Enrol Pilot”
its planned first flight next year, Indonesia will acquire the rights to kamikaze drones will be equipped with 800
produce up to 50 KF-21 in PTDI production facility. It will also bear grams of high explosive warhead. While it has
the local designation as F-33 as there will be a number of differing undergone an early test with Indonesian Army,
features compared to the South Korean’s KF-21 to better suit the “Enrol Pilot” is currently still in the development
Indonesian Air Force’s operational requirements. phase.
As it has become increasingly difficult for con-
While the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) has already established ventional radars to detect objects from far
squadrons equipped with various Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) away, especially when the objects are specif-
bought from several countries, the service has all along felt the ically built to minimize the return signal to the
need for a home-made military UAV. In December 2019, PTDI transmitting station, many countries around the
rolled out a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV pro- world have researched and built other meth-
totype named “Elang Hitam” (Black Eagle). In the first stage of ods of detection, including “passive radars.”
its development, “Elang Hitam” was only meant to be used as an This method basically monitors and captures
unarmed aerial reconnaissance platform. However, the direction all radio frequencies transmitted from, or,
of its development was shifted in August 2020 to make it into an reflected off the objects, regardless of the
“Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle” (UCAV). The drone will perform signal sources.
its first flight in August this year.
Balitbang Kemhan and PT LAPI ITB - a busi-
The 8.3 m length and 2.6 m height UCAV has a wingspan of 16 m ness unit wholly owned by Bandung Institute
and a maximum take-off weight of about 1100 kg. It has a maximum of Technology (ITB) in West Java , is currently
working on building a mobile passive radar. The
radar has successfully passed several series of
tests since its development began in 2017. In
its current state, the passive radar has a detec-
tion range of about 70 km. Efforts are ongoing
to develop the detection range. While it is still
unknown when the radar will be produced in
quantity, the Indonesian National Air Defense
Command (Kohanudnas), which has the goal
of achieving full radar coverage of Indonesian
airspace by 2024, is projected to be its primary
user.

32 | April/May 2021 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ ADT