Indonesian Armed Forces aircraft procurement programmes
The Indonesian armed forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI) continue to add assets to their fleet. Two procurement programmes entered the next phase this week during the visit of Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto to the US.
The first acquisition consists of 24 Boeing F-15EX Eagle II fighter aircraft will take place under the Foreign Military Sales programme (FMS). Therefore, this started with a notification to the US Congress of this intended sale by the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on 10 February 2022.
On 21 August, Boeing reports that Indonesia has taken the next step by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to actually buy 24 F-15IDN as they are now referred to.
Another programme is the strategic cooperation between local manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), that now assembles Airbus Super Puma helicopters and NC212i transports for the military, and Lockheed Martin (LMT). On 22 August, the two companies signed a deal to cooperate in the sale of up to 24 S-70M Black Hawk helicopters "for the needs of the Indonesian republic".
According to Lockheed Martin, these helicopters will be manufactured in Poland. PTDI will take care of "integration, customisation, modification and system upgrade for the helicopter's completion" according to Lockheed Martin. In that case the TNI buys them from PTDI while Lockheed Martin builts and delivers them to Bandung for final modifications and delivery to the armed forces.
No DSCA notification to Congress has occurred, so this is a regular commercial acquisition. Although the Indonesian Defence minister confirmed this deal on Wednesday 23 August, it is not certain that the TNI actually will procure 24 as intended by the two manufacturers.
Image by Boeing / photo by Jakub Dybicz (via jetphotos.com)