National Technology Uprising Day in Indonesia Date in the current year: August 10, 2024

Although Indonesia hardly belongs to the world’s leading countries in science and technology, it does have certain accomplishments in this area. For instance, Indonesia is one of the few developing countries that have their own aerospace industry, one of the first Asian counties to launch a communication satellite, and the only country in Southeast Asia that develops and produces its own aircraft.

In 1976, the government of Indonesia established Industri Pesawat Terbang Nurtanio, a state-owned aircraft manufacturer named after one of Indonesia’s aviation pioneers. Initially, it manufactured the MBB Bo 105 (licensed by Messerschmitt, Germany) and the CASA C-212 Aviocar (licensed by CASA, Spain).

In 1985, the company was renamed Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), and its priorities shifted towards developing and manufacturing own aircraft. Soon after, it announced the development of the IPTN N-250, a regional commuter turboprop aircraft. The letter N in the name stands for Nusantara and 250 denotes a twin-engined aircraft with a capacity of 50 passengers.

The IPTN N-250 was IPTN’s first major attempt to win its share in the market of regional turboprop airliners with a capacity of 50 to 70 passengers. The first flight of the IPTN N-250 prototype took place on August 10, 1995. In 1996, IPTN revealed the second prototype, a stretched variant with a bigger capacity. Unfortunately, the program was canceled due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Although the IPTN N-250 has never reached the mass-production stage, its development is considered an important breakthrough for Indonesia’s aerospace industry. And so the anniversary of the aircraft’s first flight is celebrated as National Technology Uprising Day.

The holiday is marked with tech conferences that aim to highlight the main achievements in science and technology, as well as to emphasize the importance of innovations.