Indonesia has signed a contract with France for 6 Dassault Rafale omnirole fighters and plans to buy up to 36 more. The deal was signed in early February during a visit to the Indonesian capital Jakarta by French defence minister Florence Parly.
The French aircraft manufacturer said in its press release that Indonesia will receive the “latest-generation Rafale aircraft” starting in 2026, which suggests that these will be the F4 variant of the Rafale.
The Rafale F4 will feature improved radar and helmet mounted displays, while an infra-red search and track (IRST) is due to be added to its long range optronics system. The Rafale’s network-centric warfare system will also be improved with increased bandwidth for data transfers and satellite communications (SATCOM).
The U.S. State Department has also cleared the sale of 36 Boeing F-15 Eagles to Indonesia. The aircraft are designated as the F-15ID and will be equipped with the AN/APG-82 AESA radar and Boeing AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability Systems (EPAWSS) and MS-110 reconnaissance pods with an estimated total cost of up to A$19.48 billion.
This is a notification to Congress of a potential sale, and does not mean a sale has been concluded, and is requirement for all US Foreign Military Sales. However, Indonesian air force chief of staff Air Chief Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo has previously said that he would like to see Australia’s northern neighbour acquire both types of aircraft.
Indonesia had previously concluded drawn out negotiations with Russia for the supply of 11 Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker interceptors to complement the 16 Su-27/Su-30MK2 Flankers in the inventory.
However, Prasetyo said recently that he had to abandon efforts to acquire the Su-35s “with a heavy heart” although he did not specifically name the reasons for doing so, although it is believed that worries about potential American sanctions scuppered the deal.
The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) passed by Congress in 2017 is meant to discourage governments or entities from acquiring weapons or military hardware and parts from U.S. adversaries such as Iran, North Korea and Russia.
The acquisition of Rafales was part of a broader agreement concluded by the two countries during Parly’s visit. Also concluded was a Memorandum of Understanding for Indonesia to acquire a pair of Scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines.
In addition to the Su-27/30 Flankers, Indonesia also operates some two dozen Lockheed-Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets, most of these being refurbished ex-USAF aircraft. Under its Minimum Essential Force plan, the country requires ten fighter squadrons to defend its more than 17,000 islands.
Madeline Wild, Associate Defense Analyst at data and analytics company GlobalData, said that the agreements were a “significant win for the French defense industry”, calling it an “opportunity to cooperate with another major player in the Indo-Pacific region” that will reposition France and its defence companies as a key competitor in the South-East Asian market.
She added that the deal would help in offsetting the loss of the Naval Group contract to build the Attack-class submarines for Australia and for France, helping to “re-establish the balance of influence in the region” following the fallout from Australia’s decision to go with nuclear submarines under the AUKUS umbrella felt beyond the economic impact.
According to Wild, Indonesia’s interest in the F-15 “is not in direct opposition to the Rafale contract” and is an opportunity for the U.S. to reinforce allied Indo-Pacific states such as Indonesia, which will be beneficial for the U.S. in its pivot to the region.