"We are not worried because we still have other alternatives with the same technical and operational specifications," Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said on the sidelines of his visit to PT Pindad here on Tuesday.
The Netherlands is planning to sell 150 units of its Leopard 2A6 tanks made in 2003.The Dutch parliament reportedly rejected the plan which it linked to human rights violation.
Syafrie said however that until now Indonesia had not yet received any official rejection from the Netherlands.
He said that Indonesia had alternatives to buy ones in an Asian or African country.
Regarding the rejection, Army Chief of Staff General Pramono Edhie Wibowo has received a Dutch delegation.
"The delegation will also hold talks with the Defense Ministry. In the meeting, we will explain the aim of the plan to buy the tanks," Sjafrie said.
He expressed convince that there would be no problem regarding the plan to purchase 100 units of Leopard 2A6 tanks from the Netherlands.
The price of the 100 tanks is Rp14 trillion.
He said that the purchase of the tanks was part of the arms modernization program of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) for the 2011 - 2015 period.
The program is made to achieve TNI`s essential minimum forces with a total budget of Rp150 trillion.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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