A Portrait of 'Lined Up' Fighter Jets to Meteor Missiles Arriving in Indonesia

Fighter jets and military aircraft were lined up at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, Jakarta, on Monday (18/5/2026). The shipment includes Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) Rafale, A400M MRTT, Falcon 8X, Smart Weapon Hammer, and Meteor Missiles, most of which originated from Paris, France.

Among the arrivals, the MRCA Rafale has been delivered to the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU). This aircraft is part of a total order of 42 units of the 4.5-generation fighter jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation, France, intended to modernise Indonesia’s main weapons systems (alutsista).

The shipment also features the Dassault Falcon 8X, an ultra-long-range business trijet. In Indonesia, this advanced aircraft will be operated by Air Squadron 15 of the Indonesian Air Force at Halim Perdanakusuma to support strategic VIP and VVIP flight missions.

President Prabowo Subianto was also seen inspecting the new Indonesian Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) Radar. This is a flagship product of PT Len Industri (Persero), which collaborated with the French company Thales Group to procure GCI radar for the Indonesian Ministry of Defence. The radar possesses a range of up to 450 km and will play a critical role in providing escort for interceptor and fighter aircraft during missions.

Additionally, precision-guided bombs developed by Safran Electronics & Defense (France) were showcased. These smart weapons utilise modular guidance kits to convert conventional bombs into highly agile, long-range smart munitions.

Also pictured was the Meteor Missile, a long, slender, grey air-to-air missile (Beyond Visual Range or BVRAAM) produced by the MBDA consortium, a partnership of French, British, Italian, and German companies. This weapon is specifically designed to intercept and destroy various aerial threats, ranging from agile fighter jets to cruise missiles, with a claimed range of over 200 km.

The majority of the military hardware received by Indonesia is part of a large-scale national air defence modernisation project that has been underway for several years.