According to Indonesian resources, on July 1, 2022, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), during his visit to the United Arab Emirates, signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement between Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (IUAE-CEPA) with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. At the same time, within the framework of this comprehensive agreement, the Presidents of the two countries signed a number of agreements and contracts, including a contract for the construction of an amphibious helicopter dock ship by the Indonesian State shipbuilding association PT PAL Indonesia (Persero) in Surabaya for the UAE Navy.
A model of the 163-meter-long amphibious helicopter dock ship project presented by the Indonesian state shipbuilding association PT PAL Indonesia (Persero) at the exposition of the DSA-2018 defense exhibition in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), April 2018 (c) Valleryan / MaxDefense Philippines
The parameters of the contract are not disclosed, but, according to a number of publications, it includes an option for another five (!) such ships. Negotiations with the UAE on this topic have been conducted by the Indonesians since at least 2016, and in February 2017 PT PAL signed a memorandum with the Emirati companies Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) and International Global Group (IGG) on cooperation in the implementation of the construction of ships of this class for the UAE.
According to Indonesian media, the contract was concluded for the construction of an enlarged version for the UAE (with a length of 163 meters and a width of 24 meters) of PT PAL under construction under a South Korean license for the Indonesian Navy and for the export of well-known Makassar-type amphibious helicopter docks (DVKD) (122-125 m long and 22 m wide). Earlier, back in 2016, this independently developed enlarged version of the DVKD with a length of 163 meters was offered by PT PAL for an already long-running tender of the Malaysian Navy under the Multirole Support Ship (MRSS) program, a decision on which has not yet been made. The full-stroke speed of the 163 m long DVKD variant is 18 knots.
Recall that Makassar-type DVKDs are being built by the Indonesian PT PAL association under the project and license of the South Korean shipbuilding company Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd., which itself has built three ships of this class for the Indonesian Navy since 2003. To date, PT PAL has already built four ships based on this project for the Indonesian navy at the shipyard in Surabaya, and two more were commissioned for the Philippine Navy in 2016-2017. In June 2022, the Philippines signed a contract with PT PAL for the construction of two more ships of the same type. Thus, the current contract with the UAE has already become PT PAL's third export agreement for the DVKD.
