Indonesia will sign a cooperation agreement with China to develop missiles, a media report quoted Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman as saying Wednesday.
An agreement was due to be signed during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s China visit in June or July along with other agreements on trade and investment, he reportedly told the Republika daily.
The rockets, Kadiman said, would have diameters ranging from 150 to 250 milimeters and a range of between 15 and 30 kilometres.
“We are a maritime country, so our state defence should start from there,” Kadiman was quoted as saying. “Long-range missiles, for example, can be launched from small islands or from ships.”
He said under the agreement China would provide missiles for Indonesian scientists to dismantle and study, so that by the end of the cooperation term Indonesia could produce its own missiles.
The report gave no further details, and the ministry of research and technology declined immediate comment.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest archipelagos, with more than 17,700 islands.
