TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Air Marshall Muhammad Syaugi, the Defense Ministry's director general for defense planning, said Indonesia needs a defense satellite. For now, what the government needs to do is securing the empty East Longitude Satellite 123.
"There's a rule of play; if no one fill that slot over a period of time, it will disappear," Syaugi said in Jakarta Monday, June 13, 2016.
According to Syaugi President Joko Widodo had given a clear instruction during the cabinet meeting. The president, he said, asked his Ministry to secure the empty slot.
Syaugi said that securing the slot has to be done while Indonesia waits to have its own satellite.
The process to procure a satellite, he added, takes three to four years. To secure that slot during that period, Indonesia must rent a satellite.
"Later, we will replace it with a purchased one," Syaugi said.
Syaugi said the down payment to rent a satellite is around US$2.5 million. "We will ask it from the Finance Ministry."
The Defense Ministry's satellite procurement plan report stipulates that it needs US$275.47 million budget.
The report also wrote that right now there is no budget allocated for the procurement of a Geo Stationary Orbit (GSO). The ministry is now asking for the president's discretion for a satellite budget allotment.
AHMAD FAIZ | ANGELINA ANJAR SAWITRI