Indonesian Air Force, part III

1998 – present

 In 1999, the Indonesian Military staged a military intervention following the East Timor's referendum. The result was that more than 1,500 were civilians killed and 70 percent of Dili's infrastructure razed. In response, the United States and the European Union both imposed arms embargoes. Although the European Union chose not to renew its ban in 2000, the United States did not lift its embargo until November 2005. During this embargo the Indonesian government turned to Russia to supply them with arms including fighters, helicopters, missiles, radars and other equipment. In 2002, Indonesian Air Force continued to use all of its assets against local separatists, such as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM). In the conflict with GAM in Aceh, the Indonesian Air Force utilized OV-10Fs for counter-insurgency actions along with BAe Hawk 53 and 209 with great success.

In July 2003, the Air Force managed to scramble two fully armed F-16 to intercept five U.S. F/A-18 Hornets maneuvering over Bawean Island off the Eastern coast of Java island. The incident ended peacefully through a Friend or Foe hand signal. A US spokesman said that the naval aircraft had sought permission to enter Indonesian airspace while escorting a US aircraft carrier, but that the request arrived too late at the air force defense headquarters in Jakarta due to red tape.
In that same year, the Air Force received two Sukhoi Su-27s and two Sukhoi Su-30s from Russia. The fighters were partly paid for in Indonesian palm oil. The purchase, however, did not include any weaponry. Unbeknown to most, Seven KT-1b Korean basic trainers were also purchased.
By 2005 the Air Force was experiencing a logistical crisis. The F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-4 Skyhawk, which accounted for 80% of its air combat assets, were at the minimum or nil level of combat readiness.
To respond to the crisis, in 2006, the Indonesian Air Force ordered three Sukhoi Aerospace Su-27SKM and three Sukhoi Aerospace Su-30MK2 to complete a full squadron. It was also made public that the four aircraft procured in 2003 were inactive and awaiting an upgrade of their communication systems, as they were incompatible with the Indonesian systems in use. The additional aircraft will be ordered with systems complying with the Indonesian and international standards and would also include new weaponry for all variants. A further 12 KT-1b Korean basic trainers were also ordered in 2006.
Future plans, military budgets permitting, include purchasing new F-16C/D Fighting Falcons to strengthen the F-16 squadron, upgrading the current fleet of C-130 Hercules to modern C-130Js and buying newer C-130Js to supplement the inventory, purchasing newer advanced trainers and light attack aircraft for COIN operations, purchasing new radars and receiving new logistical equipment from both Western and Russian manufacturers. The Indonesian Ministry of Defense also expressed an interest in buying approximately two squadrons of refurbished Dassault Mirage 2000-5 from France, complete with Matra Magic II and MBDA MICA air-to-air missiles. France recommended the Dassault Rafale to Indonesian Air Force, since Dassault had decided to stop the production of Dassault Mirage 2000. The Indonesian Air Force is also showing interest in the newly made Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon and JF-17 Thunder from China, and also the SAAB JAS-39 Gripen from Sweden, all suitable options for succeeding the aging Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II. In March 2008, Indonesian Air Force ordered 8 Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano from Brazil to replace its Rockwell OV-10F Bronco. . Up to 16 more Super Tucano may be acquired eventually.
To date, the Indonesian Air Force has only acquired four types of missiles – the AS-1 Kennel (KS-1 Kometa), AIM-9 Sidewinder, AGM-65 Maverick and AA-2 Atoll (Vympel K-13). There are plans to purchase more advanced air-to-air missiles, such as AA-10 Alamo (Vympel R-27), AA-11 Archer (Vympel R-73), AA-12 Adder (Vympel R-77) and AA-X-13 Arrow (Vympel R-37), as well as other air-to-ground missiles (AS-14 "Kedge" (Kh-29), anti ship missiles (AS-17 "Krypton" and AS-13 "Kingbolt"), general purpose bombs and cluster bombs from Russia, to be carried by their Flankers. At this time, Indonesian Flankers are armed with Indonesian made (US licensed) Mk.82 bombs. There is a possibility that Indonesian Air Force will also purchase extremely long range air-to-air missile Novator KS-172 AAM-L, after the Indonesian Army evaluated and showed their interest in purchasing S-300PMU "Grumble" and SA-17 "Grizzly" missiles.
Local weapons are being developed such as P-100 air-to-ground bomb manufactured by CV Sari Bahari Malang, East Java. P-100 has been successfully tested in Su-27 and Su-30 for ground attack missions. Further massive production is subject to approval from Ministry of Defence.
In the visit of US President Barack Obama on November 9–10, 2010 in Jakarta, TNI-AU Force was offered 24 ex-USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon Block 32 for free. In October 2011, the House of Representatives has approved the grant. The fighter jets will be upgraded similar to the latest Block 50/52 variant with payment. TNI-AU also progressing in reactivation of the entire 10 units of F-16 Fighting Falcon Block 15 OCU, which resulted in the reactivation of TS-1606, TS-1609 and TS-1612 recently. To replace Fokker F-27, TNI-AU will also finalize their choice to whether buy 6 units of Italian Alenia C-27J Spartan or 12 units of Spanish CASA C-295 with 6 units will be shared to another Indonesian governmental institution and joint production with PT. Dirgantara Indonesia. TNI-AU will also buy new variants of Eurocopter EC-725, plans to purchase 9 - 12 units of Lockheed C-130 variant J, finalize their choice for the replacement of F-5E/F Tiger II with either 18 units of Chinese-Pakistan made JF-17 Thunder, Russian Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker or Swedish JAS-39 Gripen. New unmanned aerial vehicle will also be purchased to strengthen TNI-AU aerial observation in Supadio Air Force Base, Pontianak, Kalimantan Barat.
On other occasions, Minister of Defense Purnomo Yusgiantoro stated that TNI-AU will gradually purchase a total of 180 Su-27 and Su-30 to complete the needs of 10 squadrons. India also offered TNI-AU Indian-Russian made BrahMos missiles to equip its Su-27 and Su-30 Flankers.

Indonesia cooperated with South Korea to jointly develop and procure KFX jet fighters. Indonesia financed 20 percent share of the project and will receive 50 jet fighters while South Korea will get 200 jets. Defense ministry spokesman claimed that the jet fighter would be higher in class than F-16 but lower than F-35. The project was started in 2009 and the first prototype will roll out in 2020. Indonesia has also signed an MOU with China to produce C-907 missiles which will arm the Sukhoi jet fighters.
In January 2010 , Indonesia announced the selection of the Super Tucano as the replacement for the OV-10 Bronco in the counter-insurgency role. The final contract was signed in June 2011 with the the first of four arriving by March 2012.
In April 2011, Indonesia confirmed that it will buy 16 supersonic trainer jets KAI T-50 Golden Eagle from South Korea for up to $400 million after an evaluation of the Yakovlev Yak-130, Guizhou JL-9/FTC-2000 Mountain Eagle and Aero L-159 ALCA. It will replace BAE Hawk MK-53 trainer jets.
In August 2011, Indonesia announced that it would acquire the Grob G120TP for its basic trainer requirements which would likely replace the FFA AS-202 Bravo and Beechcraft_T-34 Mentor trainers.

By Wikipedia.Org