Indonesia has signed a contract for 6 Rafale in a planned total order of 42 fighter jets, Indonesian defense minister Prabowo Subianto announced on Thursday, February 10, after a meeting with his French counterpart Florence Parly in Jakarta.
The largest Southeast Asian country had never previously acquired French fighter jets, but it is looking to diversify its alliances and suppliers of military equipment in the face of rising tensions in the Asia Pacific between China and the United States.
For its part, France is looking to strengthen ties with Indonesia after seeing its strategy to assert itself in the Asia-Pacific shaken last year by the sudden termination by Australia of a large contract to purchase French submarines and the announcement of the AUKUS strategic alliance between that country, the United States and the United Kingdom. “The choice Indonesia is making is one of sovereignty and technical excellence, with an aircraft that has demonstrated its operational capabilities on many occasions”, stressed the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly.
Negotiations underway for several months
Indonesia has aging equipment, mostly American F-16s and Russian Sukhoi Su-27s and Su-30s, and is in negotiations with multiple partners to renew its fighter jets. Especially since a contract that Indonesia signed in 2018 for the purchase of eleven Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia has never materialized, due to the American Caatsa law which provides for automatic sanctions whenever a country concludes a “significant transaction” with the Russian arms industry.
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The French and Indonesian defense ministers had signed a defense cooperation agreement in 2021 in Paris, and negotiations on the acquisition of Rafale had been underway for several months on financing and compensation.
Dassault had a great year in 2021 with 18 aircraft sold to Greece (twelve of them used), 30 to Egypt, 12 used to Croatia and a record order of 80 aircraft destined for the United Arab Emirates.