Air Force to buy six more Sukhois
National News - June 06, 2006
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Air Force has unveiled a plan to upgrade its aging combat squadron by buying six Sukhoi warplanes from Russia in a trade deal worth an estimated US$1 billion.
Air Force commander Air Chief Marshall Herman Prayitno told the House of Representatives' Commission I on defense and foreign affairs the six aircraft would be ordered from Russia over the next 10 years to form a new combat squadron.
Separately on Monday, Defense Ministry secretary general Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin said the Finance Ministry had given the go-ahead for the planned Sukhoi purchases.
Sjafrie told detik.com the ministry had earmarked US$1 billion in export credits to finance the planes.
Herman said this time the Air Force would be more careful when buying the Sukhois and would ensure they met the country's and international aviation standards.
"I am not blaming my predecessors who bought Sukhois that were not compatible with our systems. Our orders will be made according to universal aviation standards so that (the aircraft) can communicate with the existing fleet," he said.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) bought four Sukhois from Russia earlier last year in a trade deal.
However, the warplanes did not come equipped with missiles or universal operating systems and have stayed idle in Air Force hangars.
Herman said the Air Force also planned to build a reconnaissance squadron comprising the locally assembled CN-235 aircraft.
He said the existing squadron, consisting of three Boeing aircraft, was unable to perform proper missions across the sprawling archipelago.
"CN-235 aircraft assembled by state aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia are able to cruise at a lower altitude and are therefore more reliable for surveillance missions," he said.
As part of its commitment to help the ailing aircraft manufacturer, the Air Force wanted future contracts with foreign vendors to involve PT Dirgantara, especially for maintenance work, he said.
A 1992 U.S. ban on lethal arms supplies to Indonesia, meant for more than a decade the TNI bought arms from Russia and other Eastern European countries.
That ban was lifted last year but Herman said despite this, the Air Force still had problems ordering from U.S. weapons companies.
He expected U.S. government clearance for the Air Force to buy arms from U.S. vendors would only be given by the year's end.
"We expect that the administrative backlogs resulting from the ban will take one and a half years to be settled by the U.S. government," he said.
Herman said the Air Force had repeatedly asked the U.S. Embassy here to encourage the government to speed up the purchase procedures.
"It all boils down to cumbersome bureaucratic procedures."
Lawmaker Happy Bone Zulkarnain of the Golkar Party questioned the U.S.'s sincerity about lifting the ban.
"If the U.S. government did really lift the ban, why isn't it making an effort to clear the barriers for us to buy arms," he said.
