The VL MICA firing exercise took place in waters north of Bali and involved two other ships, KRI Diponegoro (365) and KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda (367), both of which are SIGMA 9113-class corvettes. In addition, based on official publications, the live-firing event involved technicians from MBDA, Thales, and Damen.
The live-firing began with personnel from the Naval Aviation Centre (Puspenerbal) launching a SCRAB II jet-powered target drone from KRI Diponegoro’s heli deck, which was then hit by one IR Seeker MICA fired from KRI R.E. Martadinata at a distance of 20 km. Built by a Spanish UAV manufacturer, SCR, the SCRAB II could reach a speed of up to 120 m/s with a 100km radio link distance.
“This exercise is part of our commitment to continuously improve the operational readiness of our operation (combat) units and weapons system, as well as (to test our) capabilities in responding to multi-dimensional tasks”
TNI AL
This marked the first time TNI AL publicised the firing of a VLS-based SAM. In June 2022, a preparation for a similar exercise was announced but there were no follow-up publications about it hence it remains unclear to the public whether TNI AL launched VL MICA or not last year. VL MICA is a fire-and-forget missile manufactured by French company MBDA with all-weather, 360° coverage, and salvo firing capabilities which can be fitted with either an infrared or radio frequency seeker with up to 20 km interception range. The Rafale combat aircraft, 42 of which will equip the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) starting in 2026, is also able to carry the air-to-air variant, thus laying the ground for interoperability and knowledge sharing between TNI AU and TNI AL.
In 2020, MBDA launched VL MICA NG (Next Generation) with improved capabilities to target atypical and conventional targets, including cruise and anti-ship missiles, yet with reduced maintenance costs throughout its life cycle. According to MBDA, the NG could intercept targets over 40km away and with simple software updates, can be installed on existing VL MICA systems.
According to SIPRI’s data, in total Indonesia has received the delivery of 40 VL MICA missiles for two of its SIGMA frigates, each of which can carry 12 missiles. Despite the limited number, the missile represents a considerable leap in the TNI AL fleet’s air defence capability which previously only relies on close-in weapon system (CIWS) and man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) particularly Mistral mounted in Simbad (2x) and Tetral (4x) configurations. There was a discourse about installing VL MICA on three of TNI AL’s Bung Tomo-class Multi-Role Light Frigates (MRLF) to replace their outdated 16x Seawolf VLS. However, it is unclear at this time whether the plan will proceed or not.
To note, this year, KRI R.E. Martadinata is also scheduled to perform its first-in-class live-fire exercise of Exocet MM40 Block 3 Anti-Ship Missiles (AShM).