An F-15EX fighter jet taxis to its parking spot at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Nov. 8, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jaima Fogg)
WASHINGTON: The US State Department has cleared Indonesia to buy up to 36 Boeing F-15EX aircraft as part of an estimated $13.9 billion deal, just hours after Indonesia announced another major investment in the French-made Dassault Rafale.
“We agreed on the purchase of 42 Rafale. The contract signed today is for the first six, which will be followed by 36 others,” Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto said today, according to France 24.
Prabowo had previously indicated that Indonesia was interested in buying both Rafales and the F-15EX, as part of a major defense spending increase planned for the coming decades. By approving the sale, the US State Department may be leaving the door open for Indonesia to split its buy between the Rafale and an Indonesian variant F-15EX, which would be known as the F-15ID.
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The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announcement signals that the State Department has determined that a foreign military sales case meets its standards, but does not constitute a binding agreement. Often, FMS cases are approved but a deal never comes to fruition. In the cases where contracts are eventually signed, the cost of the package may differ than the original estimate.
Boeing is “encouraged” that Congress has now been notified of the proposed sale, the company said in an emailed statement.
“The F-15 would provide the Indonesian Air Force with advanced, operationally relevant capabilities, a robust supply base, future technology roadmap and industrial cooperation opportunities for Indonesian industry,” Boeing said. “Following Congressional approval, we’ll be ready to support the U.S. and Indonesian governments to finalize this sale.”
This is the second major DSCA notification for Indonesia since the start of fiscal year 2017; in July 2020 it was cleared to spend $2 billion on eight MV-22 rotorcraft.
The proposed package would include up to 36 F-15ID aircraft, 87 F110-GE-129 or F100-PW-229 engines, 45 AN/APG-82(v)1 advanced electronically scanned array radars, 45 AN/ALQ-250 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability Systems, 48 Advanced Display Core Processor (ADCP) II digital computers, forty AN/AAQ-13 LANTIRN navigation pods, 40 AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods, among other systems.
The sale will improve the security of “an important regional partner that is a force for political stability, and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region,” the State Department said in a news release. “The proposed sale will improve Indonesia’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling it to provide increased deterrence and air defense coverage across a very complex air and maritime domain.”
