Jakarta. A British diplomat said Wednesday that his country was open to helping Indonesia modernize its fleet in a sustainable manner as the Royal Navy’s most environmentally friendly ship HMS Spey stopped by Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta.

Built by the British defense group BAE Systems, the HMS Spey is an offshore patrol vessel. Its catalytic converters that are fitted to the funnel uptakes help the ship reduce its carbon emissions. The HMS Spey will spend the next few days in Jakarta to engage with the Indonesian Navy on military cooperation.

The ship’s arrival also took place just two months after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed President Prabowo Subianto for a state visit in London. British Ambassador to Indonesia Dominic Jermey said the bilateral talks touched on green defense cooperation.

“Part of what the two leaders discussed was how we could support each other in developing greener, sustainable ways of operating our military and defense forces,” Jermey told the press, not long after HMS Spey arrived. 

The Jakarta Globe asked the diplomat whether a bilateral green ship development deal was already in the pipeline. Jermey said he did not want to comment on Indonesia’s future defense purchasing decisions. 

“But it is certainly something. As two militaries, governments, navies, we want to support that development of how we deliver our defense capabilities in a way that is sustainable for the future,” Jermey said.

Indonesia’s state-run shipbuilder PAL already has the Merah Putih Frigate development deal with British defense company Babcock. In 2021, PAL secured a license agreement that enables the local construction of two frigates using Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 designs. The second frigate officially laid keel last November. A joint statement issued after Starmer-Prabowo’s meeting in that same month wrote that the two leaders had agreed to step up defense industrial cooperation, including through the frigate development. 

“We anticipate growing this partnership over the coming years, to further strengthen Indonesia’s naval capabilities as well as our respective defense industries, supporting high-value jobs and skills in both countries,” the joint statement reads. 

Under the preceding Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Indonesia had been eyeing to reach net zero emissions by 2060. However, Prabowo later revised the country’s climate target to 2050. Prabowo used to be Jokowi’s defense minister during the latter’s second term and was also a former army general. 

In his campaign manifesto, Prabowo said that he would gradually increase the state budget allocation for the defense and also to modernize the military equipment. For the 2025 fiscal year, the defense ministry gets to spend up to Rp 165 trillion or approximately $10.1 billion. About Rp 24.8 trillion goes to the Navy.

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