Indonesia Launched First Frigate of its Own Construction – KRI Balaputradeva

An official ceremony was held in Indonesia to launch the first Merah Putih frigate, the KRI Balaputradeva, which became the first large warship to be fully built in the country.

This was reported by Naval News.

The ceremony took place on December 18, 2025.

Built by the state-owned shipbuilding company PT PAL Indonesia in Surabaya, the frigate is the lead ship of a program that includes two vessels based on the British Arrowhead 140 project by Babcock International.

Construction of the first ship began with steel cutting in December 2022, and the keel was laid in August 2023.

The frigate is named after Balaputradeva, the ruler of the 9th-century Srivijaya maritime empire that controlled important sea lanes in Southeast Asia.

After the launching ceremony, the ship will move to the stage of outfitting and testing before commissioning. Although the specific date of commissioning has not yet been announced.

As a reminder, in April 2020, the Indonesian Ministry of Defense selected the Arrowhead 140 frigate project and signed agreements on licensed production at local enterprises. The first steel cutting took place in December 2022.

At the time, it was noted that the transfer of the first and second frigates to the Indonesian Navy was scheduled to take place 57 and 69 months after the signing of the contract.

In 2020, Babcock modernized the project to meet Indonesian requirements.

The ship will be equipped with 24 cells for short-range anti-aircraft missiles, 32 cells for medium/long-range anti-aircraft missiles, and 16 cells for strike weapons.

The ship will also receive two automatic 76 mm OTO Melara guns. The ship’s information and combat system was developed by the Turkish company Havelsan, as well as the ship’s main radar systems.