KRI Hasanuddin-366 will contribute to the UNIFIL Maritime Task.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian warship KRI Hasanuddin-366 will be on a mission to Lebanon waters for six months as Maritime Task Force as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The departure of KRI Hasanuddin-366 was seen off by Military Chief Admiral Agus Suhartono in a military ceremony at the Tanjung Priok Military Sea Borne Command (Kolinlamil) in North Jakarta on Wednesday.
The warship is a guided missile destroyer built by Schelde Naval Shipbuilding, Vlissingen, the Netherlands, joining the UNIFIL MTF Task Force in the Lebanon waters replacing KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda 367 which has completed its six-month mission.
KRI Hasanuddin-366 will contribute to the UNIFIL Maritime Task in routine patrols, joint training with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), Naval and other Maritime Task Force/UNIFIL elements in the Area of Maritime Operation (AMO).
The Garuda Contingent Maritime Task Force of UNIFIL joining KRI Hasanuddin-366 is reinforced with 105 naval personnel of 25 officers and 44 non-commissioned officers led by Navy Lt Col Dato Rusman.
Military Chief Admiral Agus Suhartono said the task of military units in the UN maritime task force is the fourth so far, and joined by navel personnel not only in performing a military mission, the state and nation in performing the mandate of the 1945 Constitution which obviously also has a political, diplomatic and strategic value and dimension for Indonesia`s credibility in the regions and the international community.
On its two-month journey to Lebanon, KRI Hasanuddin-366 calls at several ports in Cochin (India), Salalah (Oman), Port Said (Egypt) and Beirut (Lebanon). KRI Hasanudin 366 will be operating in Lebanon for six months from July 2012 up to January 2013.
The other countries which are also sending their Trooping Contributing Countries (TCC) included Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey.
One of the special features of KRI Hasanuddin 366 in controlling the waters in Lebanon and sea air control by helicopter, while Indonesia is the other only two UNIFIL MTF task forces with a helicopter on its deck.
KRI Hasanuddin-366 is one of the Indonesian navy`s latest SIGMA (Ship Integrated Geometrical Modularity Approach) corvets and Eastern Region Command Escort warships (Satkorarmatim).
The 1,700 tons ship is 90.71 meters long, 13.2 meters wide and has a cruising speed of 28 knots and powered with a STC MAN diesel engines, armed with 76 mm main guns, Excocet MM 40 Excocet anti ballistic missiles, 3 A 244S Mode II/MU torpedoes, and a Bolcow BO-105 helicopter.
The 1,828 Indonesian troops in the UN peace keeping mission in the world have been assigned to various conflicting areas including Lebanon, Congo, Haiti, Liberia, South Sudan, Darfur and Syria.
In 2014 Indonesia is expected to send 4,000 peace keepers in US missions in the world based on the message of the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution of maintaining world order and peace based on eternal peace, freedom and social justice.
(Uu.S037/H-NG/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
