Prabowo: All Our Fighter Planes Refurbish

JAKARTA - Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto emphasized that the government rejuvenates all Indonesian Air Force fighter aircraft, especially those who are old or whose lifetime is more than 30 years old.

Prabowo said that the old fighter rejuvenation period spent 18 months at the earliest.

"That's our effort at the Ministry of Defense, first refurbish all our warplanes now. We are carrying out all of our fighter aircraft, (it) is being carried out now," Prabowo Subianto said during a press conference reported by ANTARA, Monday, June 19.

The Ministry of Defense plans to upgrade and repair (overhaul/repair) for several Indonesian Air Force aircraft, including SU-27/30, F-16, and Hawk 100/200. In the joint process, the Indonesian Ministry of Defense also purchased the new Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft made by Dassault Aviation from France, and the F-15 Super Eagle from the United States.

However, three new aircraft units of the Dassault Rafale are scheduled to arrive in the country within the next 36 months or three years. Meanwhile, the process of purchasing the F-15 Super Eagle is still under discussion of a letter of office and acceptance from the United States Government, considering that the F-15 was purchased with a foreign military sales (FMS) scheme.

The new plane that we have signed, especially the Rafale from France, is the first to arrive in 36 months, three years, and the completion is approximately 60 months on average. So (just got) operational maybe 60 months or five years," Prabowo said.

Therefore, in order to ensure that the Indonesian Air Force is always ready for combat, the Ministry of Defense purchased 12 units of the former Mirage 2000-5 fighter aircraft from the Qatar Air Force.

This Mirage purchase is as, first an interim solution (temporary solution, ed.). So our existing planes are very old and in a fairly large state of refurbishment," said the Defense Minister.

It is planned that 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighter aircraft purchased from Qatar will be sent to Indonesia about 24 months after the effective contract. The planes will strengthen Air Squadron 1 Supadio Air Base, Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

"That's a maximum of (24 months). We hope (it can be delivered) faster," added Prabowo.

Defense Minister Prabowo explained that 12 units of used 2000-5 Mirage purchased from Qatar also had a relatively short flying hours.

"Our experts, we send, we check the average age of age (Mirage 2000-5) is still above 10 years, 10 to 15 years because the age of the plane is on average 30 years. And, Qatar is relatively small, the same as Jabodetabek, and Bogor may still be in the amount of Bogor. So, he (Mirage 2000-5) has the term that his flight hours are still young," said the Minister of Defense.