Indonesia “Still Discussing” Su-35 Purchase With Russia

Indonesia is still discussing the purchase of Su-35 fighter jets with Russia and is unlikely to sign agreement anytime soon.

A top Indonesian official, Chief of the Defense Ministry’s Procurement Center Rear Adm. Leonardi said replying to a question from Jakarta Post journalists regarding transfer of technology in the Sukhoi deal, “We are still discussing the matter. However, we should at least get maintenance skills from them so we don’t need to send the engines to Russia for repairs.”

He said that from Indonesia’s point of view technology transfers are quite slow due to the unhealthy condition of local companies. “We have a budget for weapons procurement, but we have no budget for preparing infrastructure in the defense industry to deal with the technology transfers.”

The readiness of infrastructure is the domain of the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry. We just support them, but have no authority to do anything about that, he added.

Indonesia plans to buy 10 Su-35 fighters from Russia and some eight more later to complete squadron strength of these latest generation fighters to replace its decades-old F-5s.