Spanish unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) designer and manufacturer Alpha Unmanned Systems (AUS) has entered a licensed manufacturing agreement with Indadi Venyro of Indonesia to expand its reach in Southeast Asia. Under the arrangement, the Indonesian company will provide local maintenance and support for AUS’ products in the region and will be granted permission for local production.
AUS has supplied a maritime variant of its Alpha 900 rotor-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (BAKAMLA). These UAVs operate on the service’s largest vessels – the 110 m patrol vessel KN Tanjung Datu (1101), and the 80 m Pulau Nipah-class patrol boat KN Pulau Marore (322).
Maritime services such as BAKAMLA require aviation capabilities that can enhance the surveillance and interdiction abilities of their vessels. However, shipborne helicopters, which were the primary means of achieving this capability in the past, were costly and not feasible for services like BAKAMLA, as they had to compete for funding with other services like the Indonesian Navy. The partnership between AUS and PT Indadi Venyro can potentially reduce the operating costs of the Alpha 900, a rotor-wing UAV, making it more affordable and encouraging its adoption on other BAKAMLA vessels. This broader use of rotary-wing UAVs would enhance BAKAMLA’s capacity for conducting maritime surveillance operations in Indonesia’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, allowing the Indonesian Navy vessels to focus on operations further out at sea, particularly along the country’s sea lines of communication.
(Sources: Alpha Unmanned Systems; Military Leak)
