JAKARTA – Squeezing the life out of a squadron of 26-year-old Qatari Mirage 2000-5 jets has become Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto’s only option to fill a hole in frontline air defenses until the government can find the money to buy new-generation multirole fighters.
Based in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the Mirages will in fact replace Northrop F5s, long since withdrawn from service, and will be used as a training and familiarization platform while the air force awaits the first of new Dassault Rafale jets.
Six of 42 multirole Rafales are expected to be delivered in January 2026 under a US$8.1 billion agreement signed between Prabowo and French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly in early 2022 as part of a long-planned modernization program.
In addition to the jets, the two ministers also signed a memorandum to cooperate on submarine development, which could result in an order for at least two $450 million Scorpene diesel-electric attack submarines.
The US government has also cleared Indonesia to buy up to 36 McDonnell Douglas F-15EX twin-engine fighters and related equipment, worth $13.9 billion, following a visit to Jakarta last December by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The F-15s are the same as the variant sold to Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the past decade, which is designed in a way that allows for easy upgrades; it is significantly larger than the Rafale and can carry more than 13 tonnes of weapons and fuel.
The Indonesians had earlier considered buying Russia’s Sukhoi SU-35 but were compelled to drop that plan due to US threats to impose the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) passed by the Senate in 2017 to initially target Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Indonesia currently has three squadrons of F-16s, including 10 aging A and B models, 15 twin-engine SU27/30s, bought during an East Timor-related US boycott of military hardware, and long-serving BAE Hawk 209 light attack aircraft.
Dating back to the late 1990s, the 12 Dassault Mirages were recently retired from service after Qatar embarked on an unprecedented re-armament program which has included orders for 36 Rafales, 36 F-15QAs, 24 Eurofighter Typhoons and 24 Apache helicopter gunships.
The oil-rich Middle East state had traditionally focused on internal security, but a sharp downturn in relations with some of its large, well-armed neighbors, linked to conflicts in Libya and Syria, has forced it to re-evaluate its military capabilities.
The Mirages will arrive in Indonesia over the next 24 months and cost $792 million under a deal finalized last January with Excalibur International, part of the Czechoslovak Group. It covers nine single-seat and three two-seat fighters.
The Mirage sale follows the delivery of the first of five new C-130J Super Hercules cargo planes, the only significant deal that has come to fruition since Prabowo was surprisingly appointed defense minister following his defeat to President Joko Widodo in the 2019 elections.
Indonesia has two squadrons of the Lockheed Martin workhorses, vital for moving troops and weaponry, but also for disaster relief operations and transporting urgently needed heavy equipment to islands and other remote locations.
Despite his army background and its position as Indonesia’s senior service, Prabowo has focused most of his attention on acquiring new air and naval assets in keeping with Indonesia’s Armed Forces (TNI) external security role.
But funding has always been a problem for a country with a modest 2023 defense budget of $8.8 billion, a 1.9% decline from the previous year, of which only $2.3 billion has been allocated for the TNI’s main weapons systems.
The 2022 budget of $8.9 billion represented 0.70% to GDP, the second lowest in Southeast Asia behind Laos and 144th out of 167 countries worldwide.
Prabowo is now being forced to defend acquiring outdated armaments, with lawmaker Tubagus Hasanuddin, a retired general and senior member of the ruling Indonesian Democrat Party for Struggle, telling Kompas: “What is so urgent we had to buy used and old jets.”
If Prabowo wins next year’s presidential race, he might oversee a change in priorities, particularly if China continues to intrude into Indonesia’s waters as it tries to enforce its contested nine-dot line of territorial sovereignty.
The Mirages will replace the 1st Fighter Squadron’s fleet of aging Hawk 109/209 aircraft at Pontianak’s Supadio airbase, 465 kilometers south of the island of Natuna Besar, where military facilities are being upgraded to protect Indonesia’s oil and gas resources.
Overlooking the main shipping lane from the South China Sea into the Malacca and Sunda straits, Supadio is also the base for the 51st Aviation Squadron’s fleet of Israeli-made Aerostar, Chinese CAIG Wang Loong I and CH-48 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
The unarmed Aerostars were delivered some years ago for maritime surveillance but have been joined in recent years by the Chinese drones, which have longer operating ranges and the ability to deliver bombs and air-to-ground missiles.
Indonesia is also interested in acquiring Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones Ukraine has been using with striking success against Russian tanks, armored fighting vehicles and surface-to-air missile systems in the ongoing 16-month war.
In 2022, following the lead of Turkey and Iran, Widodo directed state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Digantara Indonesia (PTDI) to begin building the country’s own military drones. But that program was later diverted for civilian use.