Indonesia is considering buying MBT "Leopard-2A6"?

Jakarta is considering buying MBT "Leopard 2A6" of the Armed Forces of the Netherlands, said, "Jane's Defence Weekly," referring to the representative of the Ministry of Defence procurement management in Indonesia.

Potential acquisition agreement provides for up to 100 MBT, retired Sun of the Netherlands in May 2011. Tanks written off within approved in April 2011 the Netherlands Government plan to reduce the number of weapons.

Officially, the cost of tanks are not reported. According to "Jane," it may be about 270 million dollars. Funding will be provided from the budget of Ministry of Defense of Indonesia subject to the approval of the Indonesian Parliament. 

Preliminary talks MO Indonesia and the Netherlands have held. In a few weeks discussions procurement program will be continued. The representative of the Netherlands Ministry of Defense in an interview with "Jane" has confirmed the interest of Indonesia to buy tanks, adding that similar intentions were of a few countries.

One of the possible obstacles in the implementation of the sale may be the position of Parliament and the Government of the Netherlands, which has repeatedly criticized Indonesia for human rights violations.

Earlier, Indonesia considered the proposal for the supply of MBT "Leopard 2" from the German Armed Forces, as well as purchasing new tanks, "Krauss-Maffei Wegmann."

Buying MBT estimated Jakarta as one of the main directions of modernization of the Armed Forces. At present, main battle tanks in the Sun in Indonesia are not available. The main strike force are outdated French AMX-13 tanks and light Soviet PT-76. 

As part of the modernization program for the 2011 Sun Indonesia has already made several major purchases, including signed contracts for six additional multi-purpose fighter Su-30MK2, three DES class "Tip-209/1200", 7 medium-sized multi-purpose helicopters, "Bell-412EP», 24 fighter aircraft F-16C / D from the U.S. Air Force, as well as 16 new trainer T-50 "Golden Eagle". 

Information about the ongoing talks in Indonesia and the Netherlands is of interest in the context of statements made by "Rosoboronexport", made in late 2011, the intention to put into Indonesia MBT T-90 and MRL "Twister."