Air Force selects best to fly Sukhois

JAKARTA (JP): The Air Force is selecting eight of its best pilots to be the first Indonesians to fly the Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30K fighter planes ordered in August.

Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Vice Marshal S. Djatmiko said the pilots would be selected from the country's F-5 Tiger II, A-4 Sky Hawk, Hawk Mk-53 and F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots.

"We will choose the best," Djatmiko said yesterday after leading the Air Force's Maintenance Command's 34th anniversary celebrations at Husein Sastranegara airport, Bandung, West Java.

He added that the pilots' health and flying records would be important elements in the selection procedure.

The government opted to buy 12 Sukhoi-30K fighters and eight MI-17-IV helicopters from Russia after canceling a plan to acquire more American-made F-16s.

The plan to purchase the F-16s was scrapped after the U.S. Congress linked the sale of the fighters to human rights issues.

Russia intends to deliver the 12 fighters -- eight single seaters and four double seaters -- along with the eight helicopters over the next two to three years.

The first batch of four planes is expected to arrive by early 1999 at the latest.

Djatmiko said that the Air Force would not build any new hangers for the fighters due to budgetary restrictions.

"The first step, is to use the hangers available now," he said, adding that they would be temporarily located at the Air Force's fighter depot in Madiun's Iswahyudi airport in East Java.

The Air Force currently operates six fighter depots. Three are in Bandung and the others are in Malang and Solo.

Djatmiko said 30 Air Force mechanics were currently learning Russian before being sent to Russia to learn how to maintain the Sukhois.

It was reported yesterday that the Russian government has turned down a deal to exchange the fighters for Indonesian plywood in a counter-purchase deal.

The head of the Indonesian Wood Panel Association, A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, said his group was ready to supply up to one million cubic metres of plywood to Russia in a counter-purchase scheme in return for the Sukhois.

"But the Russian side does not want their fighters to be exchanged for our plywood products," the Bisnis Indonesia daily quoted Wignjoprajitno as saying. (43/09)