JAKARTA - The Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Air Force (KSAU) Marshal TNI Mohamad Tonny Harjono ensures that the Indonesian Air Force is ready to prepare infrastructure and human resources (HR) to support the operation of new fighter aircraft.
This was said by Tonny when answering questions about the Ministry of Defense's (MoD) plan to buy KF-21 fighter jets from South Korea (South Korea) and KAAN from Turkey.
"Whatever the plane, as I said earlier, we are preparing the infrastructure, then preparing the human resources," said Tonny at a press conference at the AU Headquarters, Cilangkap, East Jakarta, Thursday, quoted by Antara.
According to Tonny, all matters related to the purchase of military equipment are the domain of the Ministry of Defense.
His party only serves as a user of alutsista according to the order of the TNI commander.
Not only acting as a defense equipment operator, Tonny explained that the Indonesian Air Force is also responsible for ensuring that all defense equipment crew, in this case the aircraft pilot, have been trained and have high technical knowledge.
Therefore, his party ensures that all TNI AU soldiers have been trained rigorously during their education as prospective pilots.
Not only encouraging TNI AU soldiers to become pilots, said Tonny, his party also opens opportunities for civilian pilots to become AU pilots.
"Opportunities are wide open for pilots, especially civilian pilots, and we have recruited them through the short-term volunteer soldier program (PSDP). We also changed the pattern of training and formation of pilots that there are some inputs to become pilots through the Air Force Academy," said Tonny.
With this readiness, Tonny hopes that all new equipment that will belong to the Indonesian Air Force can be operated to the maximum by its ranks.
Previously, the Ministry of Defense had spoken out regarding the plan to purchase the KF-21 Boramae fighter aircraft.
The Head of the Defense Information Bureau (Karo Infohan) of the Ministry of Defense General Secretariat, Brigadier General TNI Rico Ricardo Sirait, said the government was still in the process of exploring the plan to purchase the KF-21 Boramae fighter aircraft from South Korea.
"We need to convey that the plan related to the KF-21 Boramae fighter aircraft is currently still at the exploration stage. There is no final decision regarding the number or scheme of its acquisition," said Rico in Jakarta, Thursday, April 2.
However, Rico did not rule out that his party would sign a contract to purchase aircraft produced by the Indonesian-South Korean cooperation in the near future.
As for the purchase of the KAAN aircraft, Rico ensured that his party had signed the initial purchase contract.
"For KAAN, there is an initial contract in a limited amount that is currently still in the process of activation through the mechanism of foreign loans (PLN) with the Ministry of Finance," said Rico.
This also confirms that Indonesia has officially signed a contract to purchase the fighter aircraft made by Turkish Aerospace Industries.
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