Indo Defence 2025: PT PAL breaks cover on indigenously developed combat management system

A mock-up of the CMS developed by PT PAL, which is shown for the first time at Indo Defence 2025. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)

Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL has unveiled a new naval combat management system (CMS) that it has been developing for the last three years.

The system, which will be formally named by the country's President Prabowo Subianto at a later date, was unveiled at the Indo Defence 2025 exhibition in Jakarta.

Speaking to Janes at the event, the general manager of PT PAL's SEWACO (sensor, weapon, and command) Division, Enjud Darojat, said the CMS was developed in-house by its engineers and software developers, in response to a suggestion issued by Prabowo.

“Unlike CMS systems developed by other Indonesian companies that have been done in collaboration with foreign contractors, the CMS built by PT PAL is developed fully in-house and we own the source code,” said Enjud in response to questions from Janes .

“As such we have full control over what the CMS can do now and in the future,” he said, adding that while PT PAL received help from external advisers for the development, the company maintains full ownership and control over the source code and can develop it according to a customer's requirements.

He stopped short of revealing who these external advisers are but added that the CMS is designed to be fully agnostic and can work with sensors and weapon systems from any suppliers.

Depending on the sensors deployed, the CMS can track multiple targets simultaneously and has been designed to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems that can automatically classify the targets detected.