Air Force will receive 18 fighters next year
Air Force will receive 18 fighters next year
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will receive 18 of the 20 Hawk jet fighters it ordered from Britain next year, Air Force Chief of Staff Marshall Rilo Pambudi said yesterday at the Halim Perdanakusumah air base.
Rilo told The Jakarta Post that the Hawk 100 and Hawk 200 planes will be delivered in phases and the other two planes will be delivered later. He did not specify any dates.
Most of the planes will be stationed at the Air Force's base in Pekanbaru, in the Riau province, Rilo announced at a military ceremony to mark the Air Force's 49th anniversary.
Indonesia ordered the Hawk fighters, built by British Aerospace plc., in 1993 as part of its drive to modernize the Air Force's fleet of war planes. Currently, the most modern planes in its fleet are the U.S. built F-16 fighters which were purchased in the 1980s.
The Hawk deal is estimated to be worth about 500 million poundsterling ($790 million) but details of the financial arrangements have not been disclosed to the public.
Indonesian officials have not ruled out the possibility of buying up to 90 more Hawk planes in the future.
The Air Force defends Indonesian air space from three major air bases. The Pekanbaru base, host to the First Air Defense Command, oversees western Indonesia, covering Sumatra and parts of Java and Kalimantan.
Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung at the ceremony yesterday encouraged the Air Force to continue modernizing both its "software" (troops) and "hardware" (equipment) to improve the professionalism of its members.
In his speech, which was read by Marshall Rilo, Feisal said that the long-term target of the Air Force program is to turn it into a professional, effective, efficient and modern force capable of overcoming today's challenges.
Feisal was not present at the ceremony yesterday as he was in the United States.
Present at the ceremony were Chief of ABRI's General Affairs Lt. Gen. Soeyono, Deputy chief of National Police Maj. Gen. M.B. Hutagalung and a number of military attaches from foreign embassies.
The highlight of the ceremony was the air display of all the aircraft owned by the Air Force, from its helicopters to the service's most prized aircraft -- the F-16.
Some 200 members of the Special Force, the Air Force's elite orange beret unit, put on a mock-show taking back their air base from foreign enemies. (rms)