"It`s amazing ..", he said when he was received by Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro here on Wednesday.
During the 15-minute courtesy call on the defense minister, Theo Chee Hean said he was impressed by developments in Indonesia`s defense filed of late.
"I notice that the development of Indonesia`s defense system, alustista (armament system) has of late gained great progress," he said.
In his response to the Singapore deputy prime minister, Purnomo said that the advancement of Indonesia`s defense system of late was inseparable from the government`s increased defense budget.
"Some of the defense budget is used to replace a number of jet fighters such as the F-5s and Hawk-MK53s with Super Tucano," the Indonesian defense minister said.
Indonesia also cooperated with South Korea in the production K-FX/I-IFX jet fighters which are train combat jets, generation 4.5.
Indonesia and South Korea agreed to build KFX jet fighters in Seoul on July 15, 2010.
Compared with F-16, KFX is projected to have 50 percent more attack radius, better avionic system and better anti-radar capacity (stealth).
Purnomo said that Indonesia was trying to meet its own need for arms system, including in the development of warplanes and for that purpose, Indonesia agreed to cooperate with South Korea.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
