TNI commander urges weapon upgrade for Indonesian marines

Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) commander General Moeldoko has described the weapon systems used by the Indonesian Marine Corps (Korps Marinir - KORMAR) as "obsolete" and is calling for their upgrade and modernisation.
Gen Moeldoko was addressing reporters at a handover ceremony of 37 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) held at a KORMAR training facility in East Java on 27 January. Excluding the latest inductions, KORMAR is currently equipped with about 450 armoured fighting vehicles.
"We have to constantly modernise our weaponry and cannot persist in modifying old platforms," said Gen Moeldoko, who added that the corps was in the process of gradually decommissioning its PT-76 tanks. The service still field 50 of these, most dating back to 1954.

Also present at the ceremony was Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who said that the Russian government had agreed to sell two Kilo-class submarines with Klub-S cruise missiles to Jakarta. He said that Indonesia will send a team to Russia in February to determine whether the country will buy new or used submarines - an update on a previous statement that said the team would visit Russia in January.

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