Indonesia receives first Rafale advanced fighter jets from France, official says
(Corrected number of jets expected to arrive later this year in paragraph 5)
By Ananda Teresia
JAKARTA, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Indonesia has received three Rafale fighter jets from France in the first deliveries of a multibillion-dollar defense deal between the two countries.
Jakarta, France’s main arms customer in Southeast Asia, has increased defense spending under President Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander, while the archipelago has placed orders for some 42 Rafales built by Dassault Aviation, as well as French frigates and submarines.
“The aircraft have been delivered by the Indonesian Air Force and are ready for use,” Ministry of Defense spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait said in a message in response to a Reuters query. This is the first confirmation that Indonesia has advanced military aircraft after striking an $8 billion deal with France in 2022 and expanding that agreement last year.
Sirait said the three planes arrived on Friday and were deployed to Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base in Pekanbaru, on the western island of Sumatra.
More jets are expected to arrive towards the end of this year, he added, without specifying how many.
Indonesia has become one of the biggest players in the international fighter jet market as it plans to upgrade its aircraft by allocating large budgets to defense spending.
Besides Rafales, the company is considering a number of options, including China’s J-10 fighter jets and US-made F-15EX jets. In the long term, a contract was also signed to purchase from Türkiye 48 KAAN fighter jets, which are fifth-generation aircraft powered by General Electric F-110 engines, which are also used in the fourth-generation Lockheed Martin F-16 jets.
Reuters also reported that Indonesia and Pakistan earlier this month discussed a potential deal for Jakarta to buy fighter jets and killer drones.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy and Gibran Peshimam; Editing by David Stanway and Kate Mayberry)
