Could be Part Delivery of a Larger Order
A further batch of ASTROS II Mk6 area saturation artillery rocket systems has been delivered to Indonesia: 27 launchers and a significant number of rockets.
Indonesia ordered two batteries (36 vehicles) of the Brazilian ASTROS II system in 2012. These vehicles already equip two rocket artillery battalions and MON understands that the new vehicles are destined for the mixed rocket/tube artillery battalion of the newly formed (2018) 3rd Army Division in Sulawesi and Papua. An alternative rationale, however, is that they may be replacement units for the 1st and 2nd Divisions, since 14 ASTROS systems are now on detached duty protecting Natuna Island.
Since the signature of the original 2012 purchase of 36 units was signed there has been no notification from the MoD for any further orders. However, in February 2019, Lt Gen Moch Fachrudin, the Army’s Deputy Director of Personnel, visited Avibras’ factory in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, supposedly to guarantee that a new Indonesian order, for 56 vehicles, would be delivered by the established deadline.
Santiago Rivas and Florencia Lucero Heguy in Buenos Aires for MON
