Indonesia Will Buy US F-15s After Buying French Rafale Fighter Jets, Says Former KSAU Chappy Hakim

Ilustrasi jet tempur F-15. (Wikimedia Commons/Angelique Perez/ U.S. Air Force)

The Air Force Chief of Staff (KSAU), was assessed by Marshal of the TNI (ret) Chappy Hakim as the person who knows best about Indonesia's air defense needs when asked for his opinion on the plan to purchase dozens of sophisticated fighter jets from abroad.

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of 36 F-15ID aircraft and related equipment to Indonesia in a deal worth up to $13.9 billion, the Pentagon said, citing Reuters February 11.

Yesterday, Indonesian Defense Minister, Prabowo Subianto, said Indonesia would buy 42 Rafale fighter jets in a deal worth 8.1 billion US dollars or the equivalent of 116.217.99 billion he signed with French Defense Minister Florence Parly, as part of a series of agreements that also included the development of submarines.

"The Chief of Staff of the Air Force knows best about Indonesia's current air defense needs", said former KSAU Marshal TNI (ret) Chappy Hakim when asked for his opinion on the planned purchase of the 78 fighter jets when contacted by VOI on Friday, February 11.

Last December, the Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo ensured that Indonesia would buy 4.5 generation Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France and F-15s from the United States.

Illustration of a Dassault Rafale fighter jet. (Wikimedia Commons/Mark Harkin)

"We want a 4.5 generation aircraft and we want a 'heavy' or medium and above. Because now we have F-16s, we already have Sukhoi made in Russia", Marshal Fadjar said at the time, as reported by Antara on December 22.

The choice of Rafale and F-15 fighter jets also made Indonesia postpone the plan to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia.

"Sukhoi Su-35 with a heavy heart, yes, we have to leave the plan because we came back from the beginning, we mentioned that the development of air power is very dependent on the budget", said Marshal Fadjar.

Regarding aircraft, Marshal Chappy Hakim said, for the current fighter jets, these capabilities cannot be compared with one another on an apple to apple basis. Because, according to him, the plane is a sub-system, from a large system, in which there is a radar, guidance and weapons.

"So it can't be compared to planes made in France, planes made in the United States, planes made by Russia", he explained.

This 1971 Air Force Academy officer explained that if you spoke 20 years ago, people would probably talk about the F-35, F-22, Sukhoi fighter jets and so on. Now people are talking drones.

He said that fighter jet-making countries were also confused about whether to develop fighter jets or drones. Now is the era of drones to attack long distances. Instead of using a plane with the risk of the crew being shot. Prefer drones that are unmanned and remotely controlled.

"Now the developed countries are no longer just air forces, but have space forces. Because all rely on technology, artificial intelligence, such as artificial intelligence, GPS", he explained. can't operate. Now people building military power are no longer the army, navy, air force. But the war force with an integrated operating system is one", he said.