"We are planning to place warplanes there in the future. Now our planes are flying there only to know more the situation in Papua and at the same time to train our operational base unit," Air Force Chief Marshal Imam Sufaat said here on Monday.
He said that jetfighters could land at Timika`s Mozes Kilangin airport. But the warplanes could not be operated from the Timika Air Force base because of fuel constraints. Jetfighters should refuel after flying 1.5 hours.
"We hope that state-own oil company Pertamina could operate in Timika so that our warplanes could operated from Timika. This does not mean that conditions in Timika are not conducive. For a war, we have to know well the condition of a place," the Air Force chief said.
The air force chief officiated the Air Force`s Radar 243 Unit in Timika on Monday morning. It is located in Kampung Kamoro Jaya - SP1 Timika, Papua.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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