JAKARTA - Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the government was expecting to procure a dozen submarines to augment Indonesia's existing fleet by 2024, local media reported on Thursday.

Purnomo said that a deal to purchase three of these submarines was signed in December 2011. The submarines are being built in cooperation with South Korea.

He said that the joint-production program will transfer South Korea's technological knowledge of submarines to Indonesia.

The first submarine will be entirely the product of South Korea while the second will be built together with Indonesian workers. Purnomo expressed hope that Indonesia would have learned enough about submarines to be able to build the third independently.

"By the third, we hope to be able to build our own submarines. They will be built in Indonesia, by Indonesians." Purnomo said on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Defense Ministry and Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering (DSME) signed a contract in December last year to build the three submarines.

The contract was signed by the ministry's Defense Facilities Agency chief, Maj. Gen. Ediwan Prabowo, and DSME president and CEO Nam Tae-sang.

Under the contract, two submarines will be built in South Korea in cooperation with state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL, while the third submarine will be built at PT PAL's facility in Surabaya.

The submarines will weigh 1,400 tons and be 61.3 meters long. Each will carry up to 40 crew members and have eight tubes for torpedoes and other weapons.

Purnomo said that the strengthened fleet would better protect Indonesia.

"Based on our calculations, two-thirds of our country is water. We need at least 10 submarines to protect it," Purnomo's remarks were quoted by the Jakarta Post daily.

"We hope to be able to achieve this goal by 2024," Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Agus Suhartono added.

In 2024, Indonesia expects to have reached the country's minimum essential force requirement. Some 150 trillion rupiah (about $15.8 billion) will have been spent on the modernization of the nation's weapons-defense system between 2010 and 2014.