Page 19 - INDO DEFENCE 2022 - DAY 2

SHIFTING TIDES

INDONESIA REMAINS AN IMPORTANT

EMERGING DEFENCE MARKET

 By Yulian Ardiansyah
Indonesia’s defence equipment procure- current Joko Widodo’s presidency. The joint spectacular, in practice it will be split into
ment programs have seen a boost since development of modern fighter aircraft and five parts for the next 25 years which
Prabowo Subianto began serving as the the purchase of submarines from South translates into a modest increase in the
Indonesian Minister of Defence in 2019. Korea, the medium tank project with Turkey, Indonesian defence allocation overall. After
With his ambitious plans to modern- and the planned acquisition of eleven Su-35 all that has been explained above, how will
ize Indonesia’s military forces by 2024, fighter aircraft from Russia (which was the defence cooperation and procurement
Prabowo aims to increase the strength later dropped) to name a few examples. programs between Indonesia and other
and capabilities of the TNI in order to vastly Given the limited availability of funds in the countries continue? Below are some of
improve its ability to safeguard Indonesia’s Indonesian defence budget, it is now clear the most notable Indonesian defence deals
territory and interests in the region. At the that from all of the ongoing and planned which hopefully can provide insight into this
beginning of his tenure, Prabowo made defence programs, some will need to be matter.
a series of visits abroad including to the changed, postponed, and even canceled.
United States, Britain, France, Germany, and This is especially concerning even though Future Partner
several other countries. As a result of this Prabowo has announced a defence financ-
series of visits, Indonesia signed several ing requirement of USD125 billion in June The wish of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-
agreements for defence cooperation and 2021. Considering that Indonesia’s previous AU) to acquire and operate fifth-generation
the purchase of defence equipment in large defence modernization effort was divided F-35 stealth fighters ended with disappoint-
quantities, ranging from combat and mili- into three medium-term five-year programs ment after the United States (US) refused to
tary transport aircraft to warships, armored (or the so-called Minimum Essential Force/ allow the aircraft to be sold to Indonesia. In
fighting vehicles, and so on. MEF), this long-term plan combines the return, the US offered the F/A-18E/F Super
MEF’s third phase (2020-2024) into the Hornet as well as the latest variant of the
This still does not include a few ongoing next four new phases which have yet to be F-15E Strike Eagle, dubbed F-15EX Eagle II.
defence agreements and contracts with officially named. Earlier this year, the US State Department
other countries from the work of the pre- approved a potential sale of up to 36
vious defence minister, as well as from Therefore, although the total defence F-15IDs, the Indonesian version of the
the Indonesian administration before the budget that was proposed really sounded F-15EX Eagle II, which amounted to about
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