#PINDAD

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.

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.

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.

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.

PT. PINDAD, the Indonesian government owned firearms and ammunition manufacturer, once made an interesting pistol called the PINDAD PS-01 ‘Serbu’ (Assault) Pistol.