The Indonesian Navy has received the multi-purpose Special Mission Combat Boat (SMCB) Patkamla Yapero in a commissioning ceremony in Pluit, Jakarta.
The boat is scheduled to join the navy’s Lantamal XI fleet stationed in Merauke, Papua, where it will accompany other patrol craft to conduct shallow-water operations.
The new SMCB can carry up to 30 troops and travels at up to 35 knots.
The Patkamla Yapero is also equipped with a 12.7mm caliber machine gun and two 7.62mm caliber machine guns.
The boat is one of two locally-manufactured SMCBs as part of Indonesia’s push to produce more military hardware inside the country.
Island Patrols
Eleven SMCBs are scheduled to be added to the navy’s fleet to bolster its patrols in river channels and narrow straits.
Indonesian Navy Vice Admiral Ahmadi Heri Purwono said that the smaller craft will help with the country’s smuggling countermeasures in small island groups, as Indonesia’s shallow rivers cannot be traversed by most of its large warships.
The government has cracked down on transnational organized crime and trafficking, bolstering its naval patrol force to minimize the effects of drug and human trafficking in non-open-water areas of the country, as well as terrorist activity in Southeast Asia.
