"Our air force now only has 21 radars whereas it should ideally have 42. The radars are urgently needed to monitor air traffic over Indonesian territory," the ministry`s Director General for Defense Strategy Air Vice Marshall Bonggas S Silaen said here on Wednesday.
He said the existing radars installed in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands were enough to support the monitoring activities conducted by the air force. However, the government felt the need to add more radars for installation in Sulawesi and Papua islands.
"This year alone, we will buy four new radars to be put in various locations. namely in Jayapura, Manokwari and Tual (Southeast Maluku)," he said adding his ministry had prepared a special budget amounting to US$114 million to buy the four radars.
Apart from buying new radars, he said, the air force was doing its air traffic monitoring duties in cooperation with civil aviation, he said.
(T.R018/A051/HAJM/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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