Jakarta, July 23 -- Indonesia's Ministry of Defense has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Italy's Leonardo as part of preliminary discussions on the potential procurement of AW149 helicopters for the Indonesian Navy,

The planned acquisition is aimed at strengthening the operational capabilities of the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL), Brig. Gen. Rico Ricardo Sirait, head of the Defense Information Bureau at the Ministry of Defense's Secretariat General, told ANTARA.

"So far, what has been signed is a Letter of Intent as part of the preliminary phase of exploring cooperation," he said.

According to Sirait, the LoI covers more than just the potential procurement of AW149 helicopters but also cooperation on technical support, maintenance, trai...