Yulian Ardiansyah
-
: Oct 29, 2021 -
: 12:58 am
Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) has commissioned two new Teluk Bintuni-class tank landing ships, commonly known as “Landing Ship, Tank” (LST), in a ceremony held at PT Bandar Abadi Shipyard in Batam, Riau Islands Province, on Oct. 26.
The two ships are a part of an IDR360 billion (US$ 25.5 million) contract between the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (Kemhan) and PT Bandar Abadi Shipyard that was signed in April 2019. Both ships were launched in February this year, eight months earlier than originally scheduled.
Following TNI-AL’s convention to name their LST-type ships with the names of Indonesian bays or gulfs, the ships have been officially named KRI Teluk Weda (526), and KRI Teluk Wondama (527). With the commissioning of the new LSTs, TNI-AL now has nine Teluk Bintuni-class LST after the first was accepted into service in 2015.
Both ships have a length of 117 meters, 16.4 meters beam, 11 meters height, and 2,300 tonnes displacement. Powered by two 3,285 kW (4,405 hp) main diesel engines each, both ships have a maximum speed of 16 knots with 13 knots cruising speed, a maximum range of about 6,240 nautical miles (11,560 km), and up to 20 days endurance.
Each ship is armed with two 40 mm/L70 Bofors guns on their bow, two Rheinmetall 20 mm cannons as well as two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. With a complement of 111 crews and the capacity to transport 367 fully equipped troops like other Teluk Bintuni-class LSTs, each of them is also able to transport up to 10 Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) of the Indonesian Army (TNI-AD) or 15 BMP-3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) of the Indonesian Marine Corps (Kormar).
TNI-AL is planning to have 12 Teluk Bintuni-class LSTs by 2024.
With more than 25 years of experience in defence publishing, Global Business Press and its industry leading titles Asian Defence Technology, Asian Airlines & Aerospace and Daily News are the leading defence publications in the region, present at more international shows and exhibitions than any other competing publication in the region.
Copyright 2020. GBP. All Rights Reserved.