The planes, destined for the navy, will share duties with three others that are planned as part of six units called for in the government's 2010-2014 Strategic Planning Review. The aircraft will be part of the review's strategy of Minimum Essential Force, according to a statement by DIA.

Orders for the other three could be filed at the end of 2010, analysts have said.

The air force already has one CN-235, operating in a maritime patrol role.

The new aircraft will be fitted with Thales' AMASCOS system, according to a report in Defense Industry Daily. The systems include Thales/EADS Ocean Master Mk II search radar, thermal imaging from Thales, Elettronica's ALR 733 radar warning receiver and CAE's AN/ASQ-508 magnetic anomaly detection system.

The aircraft will also come with either MBDA's AM-39 Exocet missiles or Raytheon's Mk 46 light torpedoes, the report noted.

IAe was set up in 1976 for military and civilian aircraft design, development and manufacture. It employs around 3,700 people, down from 9,600 after a major reorganization in 2004, according to IAe corporate information.

One of its core activities is the joint development and production of the civilian, military and maritime versions of the C-212 and CN-235 aircraft under license from Spanish manufacturer EADS Casa, now part of Airbus Military.

The first flight of the CN-235 was in 1983 with first operational use in 1988. The main buyer has been Turkey, picking up 61 aircraft. Other buyers of large numbers have been the air forces of Spain and the Republic of Korea.

The U.S. Coast Guard operates around eight as the HC-144A for medium-range surveillance patrols. Lockheed Martin has installed mission packages on the planes, from EADS Casa in Spain.

The Indonesian navy also has three of the smaller turbo-prop troop transport, cargo and medical evacuation C-212 aircraft. These are similarly made under license from Casa by IAe.

The first flight of a C-212 was in 1971 and upwards of 480 C-212 aircraft have been made since then. Most have been purchased by the air forces of Indonesia, Spain and Saudi Arabia. All future versions of the aircraft, in particular the larger C-212-400, will be built by IAe at its facility in Bandung.

The box-fuselage C-212, called the Aviocar and with two Garret TPE-331-10R-512 C turboprop engines, is supporting the nation's eye in the sky joint patrol mission from Tanjung Pinang in Indonesia's Riau province, near the Malacca Strait.

Governments bordering the Malacca Strait are under international pressure to step up their anti-piracy air and sea patrols. Coordinated patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have had some success in recent years, according to a report by Flight International magazine.

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