Although it has never been explicitly stated that the Indonesian Army has operated the MANPADS Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) Martlet missile, posts from the pussenarhanud Instagram account – the Indonesian Army's Arhanud Official Account, have shown a photo of a missile identical to the Martlet launcher.
Previously, photos of the presence of LMM Martlet had been published on social media, namely when the missile was operated by Yonarhanud-14 in the 2022 Heavy Weapons Shooting Exercise or Integrated Latbakjatrat which was held in the Air Weapon Range training complex area of the Indonesian Air Force Pandanwangi (AWR Pandanwangi) which is located in the city of Lumajang, East Java.
The name of the Martlet missile inevitably became a trend in the past few days, especially when the Martlet was known to have been used by Ukrainian forces in destroying Russian drone targets. The difference is, if the Martlet in the hands of the Ukrainian troops is operated manually by a soldier, then the Martlet in the Indonesian Army is launched using the Lightweight Multiple Launcher-Next Generation (LML-NG) platform and RAPIDRanger mobile weapon systems.
For information, LML-NG is a launcher platform that is generally placed on a 4×4 rantis. One LML-NG is equipped with one MANPADS model pylon with two ready-to-fire launchers. The launcher in the LML pattern is done manually by a gunner.
Then the RAPIDRanger mobile weapon systems, carried on the VAMTAC ST5 4×4 rantis platform. The configuration between the VAMTAC and the Starstreak system has been designed to match by Thales Air Defense.
The RAPIDRanger pattern is more or less similar to the MANPADS Mistral missile mounted with RCWS on the Renault Sherpa Light Rantis. Even the number of missiles ready to be fired in one dome is similar, namely there are four launchers. Besides being able to be fired by gunners in the rantis cabin, the RCWS Mistral and Starstreak RAPIDRanger systems can be controlled in an integrated manner by the command and control unit.
In the photo released by Pussenarhanud's Instagram account, it appears that the LML-NG platform is paired with two types of missiles simultaneously, namely the blue tube which indicates the Starstreak missile and the green tube is the Martlet missile.
Actually, the Martlet and Starstreak systems have some similarities, the launchers of both missiles are the same, but there are slight differences in the tube, where the rear of the Martlet tube looks narrower.
The role of the Martlet as a guided missile is not popular, because the speed of flight is not as fantastic as the MANPADS Starstreak missile. Martlet's launch speed is 'only' Mach 1.5. As a comparison, the launch speed of the Starstreak can reach up to Mach 4. Although there is a difference in the speed of the launch, the Martlet and Starstreak are made by the same manufacturer, namely Thales Air Defense.
Still from the same source, it was stated that the TNI AD infantry element was introduced to the MANPADS Starstreak missile type, namely OJT (On The Job Training) from the 300 Raider Infantry Battalion at Yonarhanud 14/PW.
Looking at the dynamics of modern combat, ideally the MANPADS missiles are not only the handlers of the arhanud troops, infantry units in combat scenarios can play a big role in limited defense operations. And this has been shown in the war in Ukraine.
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