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)