Questioning The Reason For The Ministry Of Defense To Buy Used Fighter Jets

Illustration of F-16 fighter jets (Wikimedia Commons/SHAPE NATO)

YOGYAKARTA The public highlighted the decision of the Indonesian Ministry of Defense (Kemenhan) who preferred to buy a former Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet from Qatar. So what is the reason the Ministry of Defense bought the used fighter jet?

Previously, the Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto had signed a former 2000-5 Mirage fighter jet purchase contract. Reported by Reuter, Wednesday, June 14, the number of used fighter jets reached 12 units with a total value of 792 million US dollars or approximately Rp. 12 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,800 per USD).

Purchases themselves were made through a trading agency, namely Total International a.s., Czech-based Czechoslovak Group (CSG) defense equipment company. It is said that the signing of the contract will take place in January 2023. Delivery of the aircraft itself will be carried out within 24 months from the date of signing the contract.

Regarding the reason for purchasing the file fighter jet, the Head of the Public Relations Bureau of the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Edwin Adrian Sumantha, explained that this had to be done in order to patch the decline in military equipment belonging to the Indonesian Air Force.

"Indonesia needs fighter jets that can be delivered quickly to cover the decline in combat readiness of the Indonesian Air Force fleet," said Brigadier General Edwin Adrian Sumantha, who is a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

There is no further information on how old the used fighter jets were purchased by Indonesia from Qatar. However, in the agreement, the purchase was accompanied by maintenance services as well as pilot training for three years. Later the aircraft will be used at Air Squadron (Skadud) 1 Supadio Air Base, Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

It should be noted that Mirage 2000-5 is a temput aircraft produced by Dassault Aviation, France. The production process has been carried out since the 1970s.

Quoted from various sources, Mirage 2000 is a supersonic fighter jet with a residence engine, delta wing, and is the fourth generation fighter jet produced by Dassault Aviation. The aircraft includes light fighter aircraft with a maximum speed of more than 2.333 km per hour in the high latitude, while at low altitude the aircraft can reach 1.110 km per hour.

Mirage 2000 has a length of 14.36 meters with a height of 5.20 meters. In an empty state, the weight of the aircraft is only 7,500 kilograms. Meanwhile, the maximum weight when taking off reaches 17,000 kilograms.

This aircraft is also equipped with a complete weapon in the form of 2 firearms measuring 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 554 cannon revolvers, 125 rounds per gun. Not only that, but the aircraft is also equipped with 2 types of missiles, namely air-to-water missiles and air-to-surface missiles. The aircraft also has 9 types of Mk.82 bombs.

Later, of the 12 aircraft purchased by Indonesia, 9 of them have single pilot seats and 3 have double seats.

The country of Qatar itself has had Mirage 2000-5 since 1997. This means that the age of the aircraft is estimated to be years old. On the other hand, Dassault Aviation, which is the first aircraft manufacturer to launch the aircraft in 1967.

That's information regarding the reason the Ministry of Defense bought used fighter jets. Visit VOI.ID to get other interesting information.