JAKARTA - Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto emphasized that he would resolve in the near future the issue of Indonesia's debt arrears in the cooperation project for the manufacture of the KFX/IFX KF-21 Boramae Fighter Aircraft.
"I think this will be over in the near future because this is a Presidential decision," Prabowo said in response to ANTARA's question during a press conference at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, Jakarta, Thursday (6/7) as reported by ANTARA.
Prabowo continued that he plans to seek synchronization between combat aircraft manufacturing projects which are the domain of the Ministry of Defense and budget arrangements under the authority of the Ministry of Finance.
"I think later we will synchronize between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense," said Prabowo.
The governments of Indonesia and South Korea are working together to develop 4.5 generation fighter aircraft whose capabilities are believed to be approaching today's leading stealth aircraft. The results of the collaboration between KFX/IFX (Korea Fighter Xperiment/Indonesia Fighter Xperiment) are named KF-21 Boramae. In this long-term cooperation, the South Korean government funded 60 percent of the fighter development project, while the Government of Indonesia is 20 percent, and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is 20 percent.
The development of the KF-21 Boramae is currently still in the engineering and manufacturing development (EDM) stage, which is expected to last until 2026. After that, the fighter jet entered the mass production stage.
Indonesia plans to buy 48 KF-21 Boramae units in the joint program, while South Korea buys 120 units.
In the project, Indonesia not only bought fighter aircraft from South Korea, but also attempted to obtain technology transfers from the development of the KF-21 Boramae Fighter Aircraft.
Therefore, the Indonesian government as quoted from the official website of the Ministry of Defense sent 37 experts and technicians, as well as two international pilot test personnel from the Indonesian Air Force to obtain technology transfer in South Korea.
The Indonesian government is targeting to send 100 experts/technicians in a rotation model to South Korea for technology transfer in the period 2021 to mid-2026.
However, Indonesia is still in arrears of debt of US$671 million out of a total commitment of US$1.3 billion to fund the joint project with South Korea.
Regarding the payment, Deputy Minister of Defense M. Herindra in early 2023 emphasized that KFX/IFX is a national program so that the commitment to the payment mechanism for the cost share agreement (CSA) should be the joint responsibility of all relevant ministries.
Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 136/2014 concerning the IF-X Fighter Aircraft Development Program regulates related ministries including the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of SOEs, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Research and Technology, TNI Commander, and National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).
In the same regulation, Article 23 of Presidential Decree No. 136/2014 regulates the issue of funding, namely the CSA scheme financing for fighter aircraft projects is borne by the state budget in accordance with the country's financial capabilities.
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