Indonesian Arms Industry Seeks to Drum Up Business

While the Indonesian government is snubbing the Singapore Airshow this week, the country’s main military manufacturer is using it as an opportunity for a coming-out party, with staff members in orange flight suits courting potential buyers.

The showing for the state-owned manufacturer, Indonesian Aerospace, which almost collapsed after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, represents a new sense of optimism that has not been seen in the country’s domestic military sector since the 1980s.

“I think they’ve been doing good just to sustain their operations and production in recent years,” said Lis Gindarsah, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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