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Ministry of Defense supports domestic weaponry production

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IO – “The Ministry of Defense will continue to support the effort to improve domestic weaponry production,” declared Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto after testing out a national 4×4 tactical vehicle produced by PT Pindad at Sentul Circuit, Bogor, on Sunday (12/07/2020). “This afternoon, I and the PT Pindad team tested out a 4X4 tactical vehicle named Maung,” he said in his Twitter account @prabowo. 

PT Pindad (Persero)’s President Director Abraham Mose and the rest of the Board of Directors welcomed the Minister of Defense and presented the tactical vehicle Maung, intended to support the infantry. Prabowo was accompanied by the Ministry of Defense’s Inspector General, Lieut. Gen. Ida Bagus Purwalaksana, and Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces’ Staff and Commanders’ School, Air Marshall Dedy Permudi. 

Maung’s testing is the follow-up to the discussion between the Minister of Defense and PT Pindad (Persero)’s President Director on Friday (10/07/2020) held at the Armed Forces’ Staff and Commanders’ School, Bandung. During the discussion, the Minister expressed his interest in testing the Maung, which was presented alongside a Pindad ventilator. 

Prior to product testing, Abraham and the Pindad Technical Team presented the Maung in detail by bringing in a prototype of the tactical vehicle. Initial testing was performed on road on flat land, i.e. on asphalt and paving roads. The Maung is able to move tactically without sacrificing comfort. The indicators measured on flat land testing are speed, acceleration, turning maneuver, figure-8 maneuver, braking, and safety and security. 

Abraham then let the Pindad Technical Team demonstrate how to dismantle Maung’s door. The procedure was easy and took less than five minutes. Maung is presented as a vehicle that can be transformed into a doorless variant in a short time, and can be returned to its original form with a door just as quickly. 

When the flat land-on road testing was completed, Maung was tested for hard off road use: It was driven on roads with small rocks, big rocks, steep climbs, mud and slippery slopes, and finally, a shallow river area. Despite the difficult terrain, it successfully passed all obstacles and maintained its reliable handling. 

Abraham let the Minister of Defense test the vehicle directly and drive it himself. At the end of the testing, Minister Prabowo held a brief discussion with Abraham to appreciate Maung’s performance. The Minister concludes that the Maung has good ability to travel through difficult terrain and is suitable for infantry transport purposes. Furthermore, “The Ministry of Defense is ready to support PT Pindad’s research and development program, so that it can create more military weaponry innovations for Indonesia and ensure our eventual independence in domestic weaponry production,” Prabowo stated. 

Maung is the latest in the long list of military vehicles produced by PT Pindad, which include noble vehicles like Anoa 6×6 Mortar, Komodo 4×4 Missile Launcher, Badak 6×6, and Anoa 6×6 Amphibious. Its primary advantage is its ability to travel through rough terrain and operate off asphalt roads. As quoted from the Pindad.com homepage, the Maung has a maximum safety speed of 120 km per jam, 6-speed manual transmission, and maximum constant travel range of 800 km. It can be outfitted with 7.62 mm weapons bracket, SS2-V4 console, GPS navigation and tracker equipment, etc. 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) earlier asked Minister of Defense Prabowo to prioritize purchasing domestic weaponry in order to get the national economy on the move, whether to cover the needs of the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force. “I request that everyone should buy domestic products as much as possible. For example, the Ministry of Defense might prioritize buying from DI (Dirgantara Indonesia), from Pindad, from PAL. It is us who will pay with cash, yes, cash from the State Budget. Buy domestic products. I believe our Minister of Defense knows better about this thing than I do,” Jokowi said as he chaired a restricted meeting in the Presidential Palace on 07 July 2020, uploaded through the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube account. (Dan)

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