The Importance of Evaluating Weapon System Equipment in Indonesia
Recently, Indonesia has been hit by sad news again. This sad news comes from one of the Main Tools of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Weapon System or abbreviated as Alutsista, namely one of the Indonesian Navy Submarines, KRI Nanggala-402, which reportedly lost contact at 03.00 WITA on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, while carrying out the exercise in North Bali waters. This news has not only shocked the Indonesian people and the domestic media, but also many foreign media have highlighted this event. After mobilizing all the strength, efforts and assistance of ships and vessels searching tools from abroad, the search for the submarine KRI Nanggala-402 that sank was finally found. After the discovery of the submarine, the Indonesian government immediately asked the authorities to immediately examine the possible causes of the incident. One of the reasons believed to be the reason for the sinking of the KRI Nanggala-402 was the very old age of the ship. Many people argue that the old Alutsista age could have been the cause of this accident. For this reason, there are several reasons why it is very important in the future to evaluate and modernize all Alutsista that are still in Indonesian.
Weapon system that is old will be vulnerable to damage and endanger the lives of soldiers. The submarines belonging to the TNI which are already old, namely KRI Cakra-401 and KRI Nanggala-402 which were produced in 1977. Weapon system, which is more than 40 years old, will be easily damaged because it has been used for a long time in quite extreme terrain. Recently the brother of KRI Nanggala, KRI Cakra-401, is being repaired at PT PAL Surabaya, the head of the public relations department of PT PAL Indonesia explained that there was a major improvement to the KRI Cakra 401 system (Sandi, 2021). Member of Commission I DPR RI, Farah Puteri Nahlia, asked the KRI Nanggalas brother not to operate for a while because it had to undergo a feasibility test so that cases like KRI Nanggala would not happen again and no more soldiers would die while on duty (Hana, 2021). So, it is important to evaluate old defense equipment in Indonesia, not only submarines, but all types of old defense equipment.
Continuously using old weapon system will also consume a lot of funds. Buying used Alutsista and still using old Alutsista will cost a lot of money to carry out maintenance and repairs. It is better to buy a new Alutsista that can be used in the long term with a relatively small risk than buying used Alutsista or using old war equipment which is full of risks and requires a lot of funds for maintenance. As explained by military analyst Soleman B. Ponto on the cnnindonesia.com page, it is better to have a few Alutsista but new than many but old or used, because event hough the price of used weapon system is cheaper but the maintenance costs will be very high (CNN, 2021).
It is time for Indonesia to increase sophistication and technology in the field of National intermediate weapon system equipment. The disappearance of the KRI Nanggala 402 should be a lesson for Indonesia to continue to evaluate and modernize its weapons equipment. It is time for Indonesia to upgrade this equipment, not only for submarines, but for all types of Alutsista, because along with the times, other countries have started to use the latest and sophisticated war equipment. Indonesia should also have started to modernize war equipment with the latest technology to minimize risk and damage while on duty.
The sinking of the KRI Nanggala-402 Ship of course brings deep grief to all Indonesian people, considering that this is the third time a ship belonging to the Indonesian Navy has experienced an accident while on duty. Of course, the recent incident should be a lesson for the government to increase its attention to Indonesia's Alutsista as a state defense tool to always be evaluated and checked for its feasibility. For this reason, it is very important to evaluate or modernize the Main Tools of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Weapon System for the smooth running of soldiers who are tasked with maintaining the defense of the State and also providing security for the soldiers themselves while serving for the State.
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REFERENCES
CNN Indonesia. (2021). Prabowo dan Ironi Modernisasi Alutsista Pakai Barang Bekas. Cnnindonesia.com. Retrieved on 30, April 2021 from: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20210423152307-20-633958/prabowo-dan-ironi-modernisasi-alutsista-pakai-barang-bekas
Hana, Oktaviano DB. (2021). KRI Nanggala-402 Hilang, TNI Diminta Setop Operasi KRI Cakra-401. Bisnis.com. Retrieved on 29, April 2021 from: https://kabar24.bisnis.com/read/20210423/15/1385173/kri-nanggala-402-hilang-tni-diminta-setop-operasi-kri-cakra-401
