#Indonesia

At SHOT Show 2024, Pindad, renowned for their replication of military-grade firearms, touted the latest in their offering, specifically the civilian versions of the Indonesian SS1 rifle and PM-1 SMG, clones of the famous FNC and PM-12 respectively. The Pindad booth at the show became a center of interest, stirring excitement among not only the military technical equipment enthusiasts but also ordinary audiences.

Komando Pasukan Khusus, a Special Forces unit within the Indonesian National Armed Forces, has selected EOTECH’s Holographic Weapon Sight (HWS) and magnifier. The total number of sighting systems to be supplied to the Indonesian Armed Forces is 1,000 pieces and will be delivered within a few months in 2023.

Welcome to the heat in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, in yet another Photo Of The Day here at TFB. Above we see U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Cameron Barnes, a reconnaissance assistant team leader with the Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia (MRF-SEA), I Marine Expeditionary Force. He posts security on a beach during the Keris Marine Exercise (MAREX) 23, held in the PiaBung Training Area earlier this year.

Photo Of The Day – Every day we present our readers with at least one photo. The subject is always a firearm of some kind, preferably with a muzzle flash or some action around it. But we’re happy with a perfectly edited still life photo as well. Today we have U.S. Marines and Sailors with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit Maritime Raid Force. They have just landed on the beach during an amphibious raid on Singkep Island, which is an island in the Lingga Archipelago in Indonesia. The joint exercise between the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is called Super Garuda Shield 22.

One of the goals of TFB’s Photo Of The Day is to share treasures from the world of firearms and soldiering, while giving credits to the photographer. Here we can see an Australian Army special forces soldier (on the right) from the Special Air Service Regiment and an Indonesian Army special forces soldier from Kopassus (Group III). They’re preparing to conduct a full-mission profile training activity using an Australian-made Indonesian Army Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle.

A specialty of local illegal gunsmiths in Indonesia for the last few years has been building these all-encompassing portable solutions for all conceivable encounters. Carrying them has become somewhat a trend with street criminals, the availability of ammunition likely down to the willingness of army personnel to be very accommodating when given the chance to be persuaded. For the discerning customer who wants the best bang for his buck, why advise settling for anything of the lesser, non-bottlenecked variety?

What captivated many visitors to Indo Defense 2018 this year from Pindad was the defense companies Harimau Modern Medium Weight tank that was a product of a joint venture with a Turkish defense company. However when it comes to small arms, Pindad had some new offerings as well, some that we should be seeing within Indonesian military service soon enough.

While doing a research for another article and looking for different information, I visited Indonesian Pindad’s website. Their small arms page shows the different models of their SS-1 and SS-2 rifles chambered in 5.56x45mm. But then I noticed a couple of rifles designated as 7.62mm ones. Just by looking at the magazine size in relation to the weapon they didn’t seem to be  7.62x51mm rifles. I thought maybe Pindad has chambered these guns in .300 Blackout? Anyway, going to one of that rifles’ pages I saw the full caliber designation – 7.62x45mm! What in the world is that? Has Pindad decided to give a second chance to the long extinct 7.62x45mm Czech cartridge? No. It turns out this cartridge is designed by Pindad somewhere in the early 2000s. Nevertheless, I think many of our readers are not aware of it, too.

Kalashnikov Concern has delivered the first batch of Saiga-12S 12 gauge shotguns to the  Indonesian national anti-drug agency (BNN). The amount of purchased shotguns and the prices are not disclosed. Judging from the expression “first batch” the delivery will be done in multiple stages.

Indonesia’s state owned defense company Pindad has been perfecting a battle rifle since the platform was first introduced in 2014. The rifle is called the SSx, short for Senapan Serbu, Indonesian for Assault Rifle. The SS series of rifles has been around for some time, comprised of modifications on a licensed version of the FNC that is in current service with the Indonesian Army. The SSx is a working prototype that hasn’t been adopted as of yet.

Thanks to my friend Irfan for taking and sending these pics to me. In the main photo above, that is a boat with a turret on it. It is dubbed “Tank Boat”.

This video shows some soldiers crawling through mud while being fired upon with AK-47s. There is some military training that involves a form of live fire desensitization for soldiers, however this seems rather unsafe. Not only are they firing live ammo but they are shooting near the soldiers at the ground around them. One of the shooters is not even using the sights as he fires at the soldiers crawling in the mud.

Banten’s police chief displays a P.A Luty designed expedient submachine gun equipped with suppressor as well as a crude homemade copy of a Thompson, both of which were seized from militants operating in Java.

A reader emailed me a scan of a photograph in a recent issue of the Economist. He asked if I could identify the rifle being held by an Indonesian soldier. I quite certain that the rifle is a 5.56mm chambered Norinco Type 84, but the Type 84 is supposed to be a civilian export model, not a military rifle. Also, I don’t know of a Type 84 being produced with a Type 56-2 style folding stock or with a AKS-74U/AK-100 style gas block. Can anyone identify this rifle?

Indonesian police officers display confiscated arms during press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia on 30 December 2008. Indonesia police seized dozens of arms, 8,5 kilos of heroin, 1,5 tons of marijuana, and 16,000 methamphetamine pils in several operations in the end of the year. Indonesia has tightened security in the country ahead of the Christmas day and New Year Eve. Indonesia was hit by a series of major terrorist acts from 2000 to 2005, including the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, hotel explosion in 2003 and the Australian embassy bombing in 2004, killing more than 250 people.