US helping Indonesian air force improve aircraft safety

Antara News, Friday, March 19, 2010 17:29 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The US Embassy`s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) is assisting the Indonesian Air Force improve the safety of its aircraft, the US Embassy here said in its webiste.

The Indonesian military and three US Air Force Technical Coordination Groups (TCG) have recently conducted reviews on F-5, F-16, and C-130 aircraft. This was the first in-country review in 2 years, and the most in depth ever.

Team members traveled to Bandung, Halim, Madiun, and Malang Air Force Bases to work directly with air crews and maintenance teams to help them remedy some of their long-standing maintenance problems.

The TCG, a team of technical experts, come from various US Air Force Bases within the United States. They travel worldwide to assist countries resolve critical maintenance issues, and to brief on the latest innovations in the world wide fleet of Lockheed Martin built C-130 `Hercules` aircraft, F-16 `Fighting Falcons,` and Northrop`s F-5 `Tiger.` The Indonesian Air Force Hercules aircraft were all built between the 1960`s and the mid-1980`s.

Although the US sanctions with Indonesia were officially lifted in 2005, maintenance issues have been a challenge for the Indonesian military. In recent years, the ODC at US Embassy - Jakarta has been cooperating with the Indonesian Air Force.

"Bringing the TCG teams back is one of the first steps," Lt. Colonel Alex Thagard, Director of Air Force Programs at ODC, explained. "Many of the programs and platforms used by the Indonesian Air Force require immediate updates, in order to keep pace with changes that have occurred within the US Air Force over the last two decades."

The ODC is also cooperating with the Indonesian Air Force and the US State Department to provide grant funding to send their C-130`s to the United States for Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) inspections.

The first airplane for inspection and maintenance is scheduled to fly to the US in June.