Indonesian Aerospace


Indonesian Aerospace or official Indonesian name PT Dirgantara Indonesia is an Indonesian aerospace company involved in aircraft design and the development and manufacture of civilian and military regional commuter aircraft. The company was formerly known as Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara. It was expanded from a research and industrial facility under the auspices of the Indonesian Air Force, namely Lembaga Industri Penerbangan Nurtanio or Nurtanio Aviation Industry Institute.
Established in 1976 as a state owned company, it has developed its capability as an aircraft manufacturer and diversified into other areas, such as telecommunication, automotive, maritime, information technology, oil & gas, control & automation, military, simulation technology, industrial turbine, and engineering services.

History

Pioneering

Though aircraft production in Indonesia existed before independence in 1945, the National Aviation Industry was pioneered in 1946 at Yogyakarta by the formation of Planning and Construction Bureau within the Indonesian Air Force. Wiweko Soepono, Nurtanio Pringgoadisurjo, and J. Sumarsono, opened a simple workshop at Magetan, near Madiun. With basic materials, gliders were designed and built – Zogling, NWG-1 among others.
In 1948, a motorised aircraft, WEL-X was built by Wiweko Soepono using a Harley Davidson engine. The small craft was registered as RI-X. This era marked the rise of several aeromodelling clubs.
The war for independence, however, halted all progress until 1953. In that year, The Experimental Section was organised. Consisting of only 15 personnel, led by Nurtanio Pringgoadisurjo, The team built and tested three prototypes of a single-seat all metal aircraft at Andir Airport in Bandung.
On 24 April 1957, The Experimental Section graduated into The Inspection, Trial, and Production Sub-Depot based on Decision Letter of Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff number 68.
In 1958, a light training aircraft prototype named Belalang 89, or Grasshopper 89, was flown. The design was later produced as Belalang 90. Five Belalang 90 were built and used for military training. Within the same year, a sport plane, "Kunang 25", was also built and flown.

Preparation

On 1 August 1960, by the order of Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff, The Aviation Industry Preparation Agency was to be formed to establish the National Aircraft Industry. By 16 December 1961, the new body, known as LAPIP, was actively negotiating for technological transfers and contracts.
LAPIP was able to secure a joint licensing and production contract with Poland. Within the same year, Indonesia was producing the PZL-104 Wilga or locally named Gelatik. 44 were produced for agriculture, transport, and aero club purposes.
In 1965, the Aircraft Industry Project Implementation Command and Independent Aircraft Industry National Company were formed to expand and formulate specific uses of the young aviation industry.
Within the same timeline, Aviation Studies were promoted in the country's top universities. One of the first schools was founded within the machine department of the engineering faculty of Institut Teknologi Bandung ITB by Oetarjo Diran and Liem Keng Kie.
In September 1974, Pertamina's Advanced Technology Division signed a license contract with MBB and CASA for producing Bölkow Bo 105 and CASA C.212 Aviocar.

Nurtanio Aircraft Industry

On 26 April 1976, mandated by Government Act No. 15, in Jakarta, PT. Industri Pesawat Terbang Nurtanio was officially established with Dr. BJ. Habibie as the President and CEO. The infrastructure was completed and inaugurated on 23 August 1976 by President Suharto. The new body was a merger between Nurtanio Aviation Industry Institution and Pertamina's Advanced Technology Division.
The name Nurtanio is a tribute to Nurtanio Pringgoadisuryo, one of the first aviation pioneers in Indonesia, who designed the Sikumbang, an indigenous all metal aircraft. As a result of his death caused by a flight training accident on 1 March 1966, the Aviation Industry Preparation Agency was then renamed Nurtanio Aviation Industry Institution LLC.
Initially, IPTN manufactured the NBO 105, under license by MBB – followed by the NC 212, under license by CASA.

Nusantara Aircraft Industry

On 11 October 1985, the name PT. Industri Pesawat Terbang Nurtanio was changed to the PT. Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara or IPTN. Nusantara signifies the Indonesian 17,000 island archipelago.
The exclusion of "Nurtanio" from IPTN was due to some highly questionable accusations. One of the allegations was a personal use of company's letterhead by Nurtanio's family to appropriate some IPTN stocks. None was proven true.

Dirgantara Indonesia / Indonesian Aerospace

Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a major restructuring program was implemented. At its peak, in 2004, the Indonesian Aerospace reduced its payroll from 9670 to 3720. Furthermore, the 18 business divisions were reorganised into the following:
The restructuring focused on new business goals, downsizing and adaptation of man-power according to available workloads, and a pinpoint market targeting along with a concentrated business mission.
The IPTN was re-introduced as PT. Dirgantara Indonesia or Indonesian Aerospace. IAe was officially inaugurated by the President of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, in Bandung on 24 August 2000.
On 4 July 2011 Indonesia's government said it will inject Rp.2 trillion to Indonesian Aerospace to keep the debt-ridden firm afloat with a view to making a joint venture with EADS. Before injection the unpaid debt to government was Rp.1.1 trillion.

IAe Services

Indonesian Aerospace covers an area of 86.98 ha. The backbone of the production is sustained by 232 high tech operations. Apart from these, there are other minor high-tech facilities spread over various assembly lines, laboratories, and service & maintenance units. They are located mainly in Bandung.

Products

Indonesian Aerospace and its precursors

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AURI

;Joint Development & production aircraft
;Licence-built aircraft
Indonesian Aerospace has planned to build N-245 to carry 50 passengers for about 400 kilometres distance in remote areas or where passenger demand is low. The N-245 is only modification development of CN-235 body shape with CN-235 and EADS CASA C-295 wing designs, but the tail will be a new design. The development cost of N-245 until its prototype is about $150 million with its break even point of N-245 is only 50–70 aircraft, while if built from beginning it will cost $1.5–2.0 billion. The competitors are ATR 42 and Bombardier Dash 8 Q300.