Turkey’s 48 KAAN Fighter Jet Deal with Indonesia Could Derail KF-21 Project with South Korea

Turkey has reached an agreement to export its upcoming Kaan fighter jet to Indonesia, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Wednesday.

"Under the agreement signed with our friendly and brotherly nation, Indonesia, 48 Kaan jets will be produced in Türkiye and exported to Indonesia," Erdoğan said. "Indonesia's local capabilities will also be utilized in the production of Kaan," he wrote on the social media platform X.

KF-21 project in doubt

The Indonesia-Turkey deal could potentially derail the KF-21 aircraft procurement plan of Indonesia from South Korea.

Major irreconcilable differences have effectively frozen Indonesia’s participation in the KF-21 4.5 generation aircraft project.

While Jakarta has withheld milestone payments, Seoul has accused some Indonesian technicians of attempting to steal secrets associated with the project and barred them from leaving Korea pending investigation.

Potential $10 billion deal

The Turkish leader didn't elaborate or disclose the financial details of what he called a "record" agreement. But the Turkish media said the contract was valued at about $10 billion.

The deal includes the production and delivery of the advanced aircraft to Indonesia over a 10-year period, Anadolu Agency (AA) said.

It also includes a technology transfer to Indonesia, public broadcaster TRT Haber reported.

Kaan is a fifth-generation warplane that Turkey has worked on for almost a decade. The jet was first publicly unveiled in 2023 before it performed its maiden test flight in early 2024. It is expected to enter air force service in 2027-28.