The funds would be used to buy armaments which are high on the list of the government`s priorities and the armaments could hopefully be delivered before the end of the United Indonesia Cabinet II`s term of office, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgoantoro said following a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office here on Thursday.
The budget funds totaling Rp60 trillion was part of main armament system expenditure and capital spending at the Defense Ministry which would reach Rp150 trillion until 2024, he said.
"To see how we will spend the budget on armaments the President at the meeting checked directly the types of armaments item by item to be bought," he said.
Purnomo said among the armaments to be bought until 2014 would be submarines and patrol ships for the Navy, assault and combat helicopters and transport helicopters for the Army.
The Army would need more helicopters among others to transport victims of natural disasters, he said.
He said budget allocations for state defense would always be increased in line with the rising state budget as a result of the country`s increasingly conducive macro economic conditions.(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
