Global Courant
JAKARTA – Squeezing the life out of a squadron of 26-year-old Qatari Mirage 2000-5 jets has become Indonesia’s Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto’s only option to fill a gap in front-line air defense until the government found the money to buy a new generation of aircraft. versatile fighters.
Based in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the Mirages will effectively replace Northrop F5s, long since retired, and will be used as a training and familiarization platform while the Air Force waits for the first of the new Dassault Rafale jets to arrive.
Six of the 42 multirole Rafales are expected to be delivered in January 2026 under an $8.1 billion deal signed in early 2022 between Prabowo and France’s Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly as part of a long-planned modernization program.
In addition to the jets, the two ministers also signed a memorandum to collaborate on submarine development, which could result in an order for at least two $450 million Scorpene diesel-electric attack submarines.
The US government has also authorized Indonesia to purchase up to 36 McDonnell Douglas F-15EX twin-engine fighters and related equipment, worth $13.9 billion, following a visit to Jakarta last December by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The F-15s are the same as the variant sold to Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the past decade, and are designed to be easy to upgrade; it is considerably larger than the Rafale and can carry more than 13 tons of weapons and fuel.
The Indonesians had previously considered buying Russia’s Sukhoi SU-35, but were forced to drop that plan due to US threats to impose the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) passed by the Senate in 2017. was adopted and initially targeted Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Indonesia currently has three squadrons of F-16s, including 10 obsolete A and B models, 15 twin-engined SU27/30s purchased during an East Timor-related US boycott of military equipment, and BAE Hawk 209 light attack aircraft long in service are.
Indonesia has agreed to buy Rafale fighter jets from France. Photo: French Air Force
Dating back to the late 1990s, the 12 Dassault Mirages were recently retired after Qatar embarked on an unprecedented rearmament program that included orders for 36 Rafales, 36 F-15QAs, 24 Eurofighter Typhoons and 24 Apache attack helicopters.
The oil-rich Middle East state has traditionally focused on internal security, but a sharp deterioration in relations with some of its large, well-armed neighbours, coupled with conflicts in Libya and Syria, has forced it to reevaluate its military capabilities.
The Mirages will arrive in Indonesia in the next 24 months and will cost $792 million under a deal completed last January with Excalibur International, part of the Czechoslovak group. It includes nine single-seat and three two-seat fighters.
The Mirage sale follows the delivery of the first of five new C-130J Super Hercules cargo jets, the only major deal to have materialized since Prabowo was surprisingly named defense minister after his defeat by President Joko Widodo in the election of 2019.
Indonesia has two squadrons of the Lockheed Martin workhorses, vital for moving troops and weapons, as well as for disaster relief operations and transporting urgently needed heavy equipment to islands and other remote locations.
Despite his military background and position as Indonesia’s senior service, Prabowo has focused most of his attention on acquiring new air and naval assets in line with the external security role of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI).
But funding has always been a problem for a country with a modest defense budget of $8.8 billion for 2023, down 1.9% from the previous year, of which only $2.3 billion has been allocated to major weapons systems. of the TNI.
The 2022 budget of $8.9 billion represented 0.70% of GDP, the second lowest in Southeast Asia after Laos and 144th out of 167 countries worldwide.
Prabowo is now forced to defend the acquisition of obsolete armaments, with lawmaker Tubagus Hasanuddin, a retired general and senior member of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle, telling Kompas: “What is so urgent that we had to buy used and old planes? to buy.”
If Prabowo wins the presidential race next year, he could oversee a change in priorities, especially if China continues to intrude into Indonesia’s waters as it tries to enforce its disputed nine-dotted line of territorial sovereignty.
Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto is aiming for an archive photo. Image: Facebook
The Mirages will replace the 1st Fighter Squadron’s aging Hawk 109/209 fleet at Supadio Air Force Base in Pontianak, 465 kilometers south of Natuna Besar Island, where military facilities are being upgraded to protect Indonesia’s oil and gas resources.
Overlooking the main shipping lane from the South China Sea to the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, Supadio is also the base for the 51st Aviation Squadron’s fleet of Israeli-made Aerostar, Chinese CAIG Wang Loong I and CH-48 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
The unarmed Aerostars were delivered a few years ago for maritime surveillance, but in recent years Chinese drones have joined them, which have a longer range and can fire bombs and air-to-surface missiles.
Indonesia is also interested in purchasing Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones that Ukraine has used with striking success against Russian tanks, armored fighting vehicles and surface-to-air missile systems in the ongoing 16-month war.
In 2022, Widodo, following Turkey and Iran, commissioned state aircraft manufacturer PT Digantara Indonesia (PTDI) to begin building the country’s own military drones. But that program was later diverted for civilian use.
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