ISTANBUL: Turkey will sell 48 fighter jets to Indonesia in the coming decade, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as Ankara pushes to build its defence industry and increase exports of military hardware.
The agreement to sell the Kaan fifth-generation planes, which Turkey is still developing, is a "record-breaking” military deal for the country, Erdogan said, without disclosing financial details. It "clearly reflects the progress and capabilities of our domestic and national defence industry,” he added.
A spokesperson for Indonesia’s defence ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. President Prabowo Subianto’s office said he witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on fifth-generation jet procurement, without providing further details.
Amid a global rise in defence spending, driven in part by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, Turkey boosted such expenditure by 12 per cent last year to US$25 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. As well as the Kaan project, Erdogan wants Turkey to be a leader in the fields of drones and armoured vehicles.
Turkey has been trying to develop Kaan jets - which flew for the first time last year - with other countries including Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg has reported. Ankara has also asked for US permission to make GE Aerospace F110 engines, which power the twin-engined Kaan warplane.
Indonesia, South-East Asia’s largest economy, is diversifying military partnerships beyond its traditional allies in the West, exploring cooperation with countries such as Turkey and China as part of President Prabowo’s push to strengthen the armed forces.
Turkey and Indonesia have deepened their military ties recently. In April, they said they will establish a joint venture between their strategic defence companies, partly to develop submarines.
The Kaan deal with Turkey comes shortly after Indonesia revealed that China had offered to sell it J-10 fighter jets - aircraft recently battle-tested in Pakistan’s clashes with India over Kashmir.
Indonesia’s plans to modernise its fighter fleet haven’t always gone smoothly. In 2023, under Prabowo’s leadership as defence minister, Jakarta signed a preliminary deal with Boeing Co. for 24 F-15EX jets but it hasn’t yet been finalised.
Budget limitations also present a potential hurdle. Indonesia allocated about US$8.2 billion to its military last year, with more than a quarter of that for upgrades to equipment and infrastructure. Major acquisitions such as fighter jets are typically funded through a separate foreign loans programme, which had a five-year budget of US25 billion through 2024.
Indonesia already has an active contract with France’s Dassault Aviation SA for 42 Rafale jets, signed in 2022 with an estimated value of US$8.1 billion. The country is also a partner in South Korea’s KF-21 fighter jet programme, aimed at producing a next-generation supersonic aircraft. - Bloomberg
