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Indonesia - F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter

On 18 March 2020, Indonesia's Deputy Defence Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono confirmed that the government could consider the purchase of the F-35. The falling price of the F-35 and surplus rendered from the Turkish order cancelation was forcing the US to open new markets for its front-line jet. Along with the deployment of lighter F-35 jets by neighboring Australia and Singapore and providing an effective counter to Chinese J-15 carrier based fighters amid ongoing maritime disputes with Beijing.

Trenggono indicated that Jakarta may look to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter to meet the next-generation combat requirements of the Indonesian Air Force (Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Udara: TNI-AU). Trenggono left no doubt about the same. In his statement, Trenggono said, “We are exploring (the possibility) of changing the procurement to the F-35 from the US”. Trenggono said that Indonesia had not terminated the TNI-AU’s planned acquisition of Sukhoi Su-35 ‘Flanker-E’. “We can’t buy [the Su-35s] yet because there are some obstacles,” he said, without elaborating. Trenggono said that, given these obstacles, Indonesia was considering the F-35 through a government-to-government arrangement with the United States. “We are exploring [the possibility] of changing the procurement to the F-35 from the US,” he said.

The visit of Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia Lieutenant General TNI (Purn) Prabowo Subianto to the United States (US) officially began 15 October 2020. During his visit to the United States (US) Subianto reportedly brought a number of wish lists. One of the lists was the plan to bring the 5th generation fighter jet, the F-35. A senior US defense official said on background "Minister Prabowo is the defense minister appointed from the twice elected president of Indonesia, the third largest democracy in the world... He is our partner, of a very important partnership, and it is important for us to treat him as a partner".

Senator Patrick Leahy commented “Indonesian Minister of Defense Prabowo has been credibly implicated in gross violations of human rights, including kidnapping, torture, and disappearances, and under our law he is ineligible to enter this country. By granting him a visa, the President and Secretary of State have shown once again that for them ‘law and order’ is an empty slogan that ignores the imperative of justice." The US defence relationship with Indonesia has witnessed an improvement in recent years and the sale of eight Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters under a USD300 million contract announced in 2015 stands apart as the highest profile defence export from the US to Indonesia.

Member of Commission I DPR RI Willy Aditya said that the government's plan to buy a fifth-generation fighter jet , the F-35, was still quite a process. It was known that the plan to purchase F-35 aircraft was included in the list of visits by Defense Minister (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto to the United States. "I think the plan to purchase the F-35 is still quite a process. Because it is still a wishlist that is usually made by state officials during official visits to other countries. So it is still a long way to go," Willy Aditya told SINDOnews , Friday (23/10/2020). This Nasdem Party politician said the Ministry of Defense would discuss it with Commission I of the Indonesian Parliament if the plan to purchase the F-35 aircraft had actually been implemented. "Defense Minister Prabowo's wishlist to buy F-35 fighter planes during his visit to America should be seen as a strategy to avoid dependence on defense equipment on a particular country or producer," he said.

In this regard, military observer from Paramadina University, Anton Aliabbas, reminded that the purchase of the F-35 must refer to the Defense Industry Law (UU). "Article 43 of Law 16/2012 clearly requires that if we buy defense equipment, it must be accompanied by a trade reward program, technology transfer, local content, offsets and guarantees that there is no embargo. This is important, considering that we have experienced embargoed by the United States. The consequences are expensive unit prices and maintenance costs. "Therefore, given our limited budget and the need for a high number of replacement fighters, the idea of buying the F-35 requires careful planning and schemes," he said.

The US considered that Indonesia was inappropriate to use the F-35 (5th Generation) aircraft because so far it has only used 3rd Generation aircraft and has not used aircraft with 4 or 4.5G technology. This far technological leap was considered to be troublesome for Indonesia. The US itself offers a way out that was considered quite logically based on the condition of Indonesia itself, Indonesia was advisable to have a 4th generation jet fighter and 4.5 before acquiring the F-35 next-generation jet. The problem is, the 4.5G generation aircraft offered by the US F-16 Block 72 Viper.