Indonesia definitively closes the door on Su-35; wants Rafale and F-15EX

The Indonesian government made public its interest in acquiring new 4.5 generation aircraft, for which it has selected the Dassault Rafale and Boeing F-15EX, officially excluding the Sukhoi Su-35 of the jet tender.

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Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo told local media on Wednesday that the government is looking to acquire 2 to 3 squadrons of new fighter jets, and is negotiating with France and the US for the Rafale and F-15EX, respectively. He also referred to the cancelled purchase of eleven Sukhoi Su-35s, «with great regret, we must abandon the plan to purchase the Su-35s because, as we said from the beginning, the modernization of our air force was very dependent on the budget», without going into further details.

Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo commented some time ago that the Air Force’s intention was to induct 36 Dassault Rafale and 8 F-15EX from 2024.

As for the Rafale, the deal has been practically closed since the middle of the year. Last June 7, the Indonesian and French defense ministers signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for the purchase of the 36 French fighter jets.

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Regarding the F-15EX Eagle II, Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo commented that he received a delegation from Boeing and that they informed him that if Indonesia signed the agreement for the F-15EX, the aircraft would be delivered from 2027.

In parallel, Indonesia remains involved and committed to the Korean KF-21 Boramae fighter project, after more than a year of back and forth where the continuity of its partnership with South Korea was in jeopardy.

The main problem was that Indonesia had made a commitment to pay 20% of the program’s costs in exchange for the transfer of the necessary technologies that will allow them to produce 50 units in their country by 2026, when the fighter is ready. But so far it has only paid a quarter of the agreed amount. And with the Covid 19 pandemic, binational cooperation ended up being cut off as health policies of border closures and travel restrictions were installed. Now, however, after much negotiation, Seoul and Jakarta are resuming cooperation on KF-21.