The so-called Indonesian “Tank Boat” (officially named the X18 Antasena) has been in development for quite a few years now — in fact, I remember seeing an early mock-up at the IndoDefence exhibition as far back as 2016, and news about its initial development date back even further. But it’s back in the news in late May 2021 with the conclusion of its sea trials and live-fire tests (though not with the turret and armament shown in most of its promotional materials — more on this later). So I guess this would be a good time to gather my thoughts about it in one place.
First, a picture to show what it looks like. And no, I didn’t forget to remove the NSB logo and menu bar by mistake — I specifically left them in there to show that it’s a screengrab from Lundin/NSB’s official site. I hope it counts as fair use, but in any case do visit their site for the official specs.
sillynewsboy 