Indonesian Armed Forces Will Receive 9 Latest Attack Helicopters Next Year

Nine Bell-412EPI helicopters will be sent to the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI AD) in 2020. The assault helicopter delivery will be carried out by PT Dirgantara Indonesia (Persero).
Bell-412EPI is the product of the American aviation company Bell Textron Inc. while PT Dirgantara Indonesia assembled gattling gun weapons from Dillion Aerospace and bullets from PT Pindad (Persero).

The helicopter has 2x Pratt & Whitney PT6T-9 Twin Pac engine specifications. The helicopter has 15% more take-off power compared to other Bell-412 engines.
While the raft process carried out by PT Dirgantara Indonesia will take 6 to 24 months. After the assembly, Dirgantara Indonesia will test the feasibility of operations and train pilots and army technicians.

"Hopefully in the middle of next year it can be sent," said Vice President Aircraft Sales of PT Dirgantara Indonesia Ibnu Bintarto in Jakarta, Wednesday (11/27).

He added, at this time as many as two 412EPI units had been sent by Bell and placed in the Bandung operational office. Five units will be shipped by 2020 and the other two are still in the manufacturing process in the US.

Vice President of Business Development and Marketing of PT Dirgantara Indonesia Gatot Mulia Pribadi said, at least the value that must be put in to bring the 9 helicopters to reach 180 million US dollars.

Gatot emphasized that the figure was relevant because Bell-412EPI had low operating and maintenance costs but remained of high quality. "This product can be used in various fields and is designed to withstand the conditions of sea water," he said.

To note, the Bell-412EPI has an automatic engine start feature with temperature restrictions accompanied by digital engine control. While the avionics device, Bell-412EPI has a 4-axis flight control technology with glass cockpit instruments.

Furthermore, Gatot explained, cooperation between Dirgantara Indonesia and Bell had been going on since 37 years ago. The partnership starts from production under license.

Until now, Dirgantara Indonesia has delivered 448 aircraft to its customers. Of the 448 aircraft, 253 of them were helicopters and 63 of them were handed over by 63 Bell-412EPI helicopters.

For this reason, Gatot hopes that cooperation between Dirgantara Indonesia and Bell will continue.

"Of course we hope that this collaboration will continue and be improved so that it can meet the needs of the Indonesian government, especially the Army, Air Force, and Navy, including the Indonesian National Police," said Gatot. (Mir)