State-owned shipbuilding company PT PAL is hoping to build a $240m missile-equipped warship for the Indonesian Navy, scheduled to launch by 2010.

PAL president director Harsusanto said that some export credits would help the navy with the ship manufacture, but added that a company had not yet been appointed for the project.

“This ship will be expensive, and we hope it will be built by PAL,” he said.

The Indonesian Navy currently comprises 132 vessels, considerably below the target of 370 needed to patrol the country’s vast maritime territory.

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