Indonesia and Turkey conducted defense cooperation in the form of making a medium tank, which was later named the Tiger Tank. This cooperation itself is driven by Indonesia's national interests in the defense and security sector, especially in terms of protecting the territory, and citizens based on perceived threats from within and outside the region. Therefore, Indonesia needs a qualified main weaponry system (alutsista) in maintaining stability and strengthening the country's defense to guard against threats from outside. The Minimum Essential Forces (MEF) program and the enactment of Law No. 16/2012 on the Defense Industry are forms of implementation that accelerate the modernization of Indonesia's defense equipment. Both of these were initiated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono because of the underdevelopment of Indonesia's defense equipment, which caused Indonesia to be underestimated and Ambalat waters were acquired by Malaysia. MEF itself is Indonesia's strategic plan to achieve minimum force status by modernizing Indonesia's defense equipment by 2024. Based on the provisions of Law No. 16/2012 on the Defense Industry, every purchase of defense equipment by Indonesia must go through a compensation or technology transfer program. One of the programs aimed at increasing the capacity of the defense industry and developing Indonesia's defense equipment independence is to conduct this defense cooperation with Turkey. Defense industry cooperation between Indonesia and Turkey was agreed upon in 2010. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the time visited Ankara to sign a memorandum of understanding on defense industry cooperation between the two countries. Through this MoU, Indonesia and Turkey cooperate in several aspects of the defense industry. One of the manifestations of defense industry cooperation between Indonesia and Turkey is the development of a medium combat tank called the Tiger Tank or Kaplan MT.
Turkey and Indonesia united through their defense companies, FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A. from Turkey and PT Pindad from Indonesia, to develop this medium tank together. The development of this medium battle tank between Indonesia and Turkey began after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between PT Pindad and FNSS. Both signed the memorandum of understanding in 2014, in conjunction with the Indo Defense Forum & Exhibition 2014. The development of the Harimau medium battle tank went through three stages. The first stage is the design of the Tiger medium battle tank. The second stage of development is the prototyping stage. After undergoing a series of tests, the Tiger battle tank medium was certified in 2018. Therefore, the Tiger medium battle tank is ready to enter the third stage, namely the production stage and start mass production. In 2023, as many as 18 units of the Tiger Medium Tank, a collaboration between PT Pindad and FNSS Turkey, are ready to strengthen the ranks of TNI-AD defense equipment. The tank itself is named Tiger Tank by Indonesia and Kaplan MT by Turkey.
This cooperation can be seen as a form of Indonesia's defense diplomacy. Defense diplomacy itself is a method of managing international relations between two countries through negotiations that specifically discuss the field of defense. Defense diplomacy is tied to the goal of enhancing a country's military defense capabilities through the development and strengthening of a country's defense industry. Defense diplomacy in the cooperation of making Tiger Tanks with Turkey is part of international relations involving both countries in the development and procurement of military technology. This cooperation also shows that Turkey is one of the countries that has high military technology and has the potential to assist Indonesia in developing military technology, so then Indonesia chose to conduct this defense diplomacy with Turkey. In the development of this medium tank, PT Pindad as a state defense industry is the spearhead of Indonesia in building the independence of Indonesia's defense industry in the future. Both companies, in this case FNSS and PT Pindad agreed to establish a cooperative relationship under the auspices of the ministries of defense of each country to jointly develop medium tanks. With this defense diplomacy in the form of defense industry cooperation, it will certainly make the relationship between the two countries become closer. It can also improve Indonesia's military capabilities, especially in the development of medium tanks, and as a form of Indonesia's independence in the defense industry. This joint production between Indonesian and Turkish companies is also expected to be a stepping stone for Indonesian companies to continue developing defense technology.
In addition, this cooperation can also be seen as one of the manifestations of Indonesia's national interests in the midst of an anarchic international system, where countries are competing to increase their power capacity to ensure their own survival. This cooperation itself is driven by Indonesia's national interests, especially in terms of protecting the territory, and citizens on the basis of perceived threats from within and outside the region. Indonesia as a country that has had bad experiences in the past due to colonization, being underestimated until it was taken over its sovereign territory by other countries, and also unfavorable experiences due to dependence on defense equipment produced by other countries, seeks to realize defense equipment resilience by developing its defense industry. One of them is through the development of the Harimau medium battle tank together with Turkey. Indonesia's decision to develop a medium battle tank is a strategy to realize defense equipment resilience and is based on the pursuit of power, pursuit of wealth and pursuit of prestige. In addition, for Turkey, this cooperation is seen as a way to strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries and build trust in Indonesia, in order to become a door for defense industry cooperation and cooperation in other fields between Turkey and Indonesia in the future. With this cooperation, Turkey can also expand their influence not only in the region but also to the Southeast Asian region.
Cooperation between Indonesia and Turkey in the manufacture of Tiger tanks provides advantages and disadvantages for Indonesia. The advantages that Indonesia gets from the cooperation in making this Tiger Tank are, with this cooperation it can increase the ability or capability of the Indonesian defense industry, this cooperation can strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and Turkey, this cooperation also allows technology transfer from Turkey which can support the development and independence of the Indonesian defense industry, besides that this collaboration can strengthen the resilience and quality of the Indonesian National Army's defense equipment with the successful creation of this Tiger Tank, and this cooperation is also able to be assessed to create long-term defense logistics security. From an economic perspective, the benefits that can be felt from this tank development collaboration are that it can create jobs, especially for reliable technicians, this collaboration can also stimulate long-term economic growth for both countries, especially for Indonesia, this collaboration also provides opportunities for the domestic defense industry to participate in the medium tank work, and this collaboration can open up opportunities to market Tiger tanks to the global market.
But on the other hand, this cooperation also has drawbacks, such as the absence of significant technology transfer, this cooperation is also considered to only increase Indonesia's dependence on Turkey. This cooperation is also considered to increase political risk, and the performance of the Tiger tank is still lacking compared to other countries' medium tanks, so this cooperation is considered to only increase the defense budget. Judging from the many shortcomings of this cooperation, the advice that can be given for this cooperation is that this cooperation needs to be reviewed if it wants to be extended considering some of the shortcomings of this cooperation that can be taken into consideration. Indonesia should also consider other countries to be its defense diplomacy partner, such as America. America itself also produces a medium tank called the Abrams Tank.
Compared to the US-made Abrams Tank, the Tiger Tank has less sophisticated specifications. For example, the Abrams has a higher speed, a larger and more sophisticated weapon loadout, and a larger crew, which makes it more advanced than the Tiger. Thus, we can see that this cooperation can support Indonesia's efforts in achieving national interests in defense and security, as well as strengthen relations between the two countries which are expected to open up opportunities for cooperation in other fields. However, this cooperation also poses several challenges that need to be overcome and reconsidered if it is to be extended.
About the Author-
Hello, my name is Salsabiila Arkhan. I made this article as reading material about Indonesia's foreign policy. I am currently studying at Yogyakarta University of Technology with the International Relations study program (Accreditation B) class of 2022. The reason I chose this International Relations study program was honestly due to the direction of my parents because I moved to college several times. But after I went through lectures, I became interested in various events that occurred in the international world, and I found many new things and knowledge that I never knew before. I also feel that this study program is in line with my talents and interests (thanks to my parents). My favorite course while studying International Relations is global security, because it contains complex knowledge not only about military security, but also includes food security and human security. Very far from my thoughts so far which only dwelled on the concept of traditional security, so the course really opened my eyes to a wider world. From there, I was interested in taking the public diplomacy concentration. I was very interested in the courses offered, such as gender and cultural diplomacy. My favorite lecturer at UTY International Relations is Mr. Adi Wibawa, S.I.P, M.A, because he teaches easy to understand and super-fast (so we can go home quickly too *lol). Thank you.
