Indonesia to build up defence capabilities with new aircraft

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JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said on Monday (May 18) that the Southeast Asian country will continue to build up its defence capabilities as the government handed over equipment, including six French-made Rafale jets, to the military.

Prabowo presided over a handover ceremony at a military airbase in Jakarta, where he inspected recently-acquired defence equipment, including four Dassault Falcon 8x and an Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft, according to a presidential palace statement.

Jakarta signed a US$8.1 billion deal in 2022 under then-defence minister Prabowo to purchase 42 French-made Rafale fighters.

Prabowo said after the ceremony on Monday that Indonesia will keep strengthening its defence capabilities.

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"We must continue to improve our defence capabilities to serve as a deterrent. We do not have any interests other than protecting our own territory," he told reporters.

"We observe that the global geopolitical landscape is fraught with uncertainty, and we recognise that defence is a primary prerequisite for stability."

Indonesia received the first batch of three Rafale jets in January, and Monday's ceremony included an additional three jets for the military, defence ministry spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait told AFP.

He underscored the jets' importance to strengthen Indonesia's air defence system and claimed that defence equipment modernisation was also an investment to safeguard the nation's sovereignty.

"The government views the strengthening of defence equipment not merely as the procurement of combat platforms, but as a strategic investment aimed at safeguarding sovereignty, national honour and national defence readiness," he said.

Prabowo, a former military general who came to power in 2024, has sought to modernise Indonesia's ageing military assets.

He met with French President Emmanuel Macron last month in Paris, where the two leaders discussed bolstering strategic cooperation, including through the "procurement of defence equipment and the strengthening of the defence industry", according to an Indonesian government statement.

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