Ministry of Defence: Plan to Purchase 24 Rafale Fighter Jets Still Under Study

The Ministry of Defence states that the plan to add the purchase of 24 Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft made in France remains limited to a study and has not yet become a government decision. If this option is realised, the purchase of 24 Rafale units will add to the order of 42 units to become 66 units that were previously signed by President Prabowo Subianto when he served as Minister of Defence. “To date, there has been no decision regarding the addition of Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft beyond the existing contract,” said the Head of the Defence Information Bureau of the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait, to Tempo on Sunday, 19 April 2026. Rico stated that the Indonesian government continues to communicate regarding this Rafale fighter jet purchase cooperation as part of the purchase contract. However, this communication has not yet led to a new contract. According to Rico, the option to add Rafale as TNI defence equipment considers various aspects, including the operational needs of the TNI, the readiness of support systems, and the state’s budgetary capacity. The plan to add the purchase of 24 Rafale units has been circulating since last year. However, recently this news has re-emerged in the French media La Tribune, which wrote about the plan to add units. In the Instagram account of the Indonesian military think tank group Strategic and Defence Studies or ISDS, @isds.indonesia, La Tribune stated that Indonesia plans to add the purchase after the meeting between President Prabowo Subianto and French President Emanuel Macron. La Tribune once made an analysis that the meeting between Macron and Prabowo discussed the new sale of Dassault Aviation-produced Rafale fighter jets. That sale is between 18 and 24 Rafale units outside the 42-unit contract. However, La Tribune stated that the plan depends on Indonesia’s ability to finance the new transaction. Previously, the Ministry of Defence conveyed that three Rafale fighter jets will return to Indonesia in mid-year. These three fighter aircraft are the second wave of a total of 42 Rafale jets purchased by Indonesia from French Dassault Aviation. With this addition, the TNI now has 6 fighter jets. Rico Sirait said the rest will be delivered gradually according to the contract and the technical readiness of both parties. “This second batch is likely three, so now six. And so on in the coming periods,” he said when met in the Menteng area, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday, 25 February 2026. According to the plan, said Rico, the new aircraft will be received directly by President Prabowo Subianto. However, he has not confirmed when that agenda will take place. “We wait for the main date,” he said. The purchase of Rafale fighter jets is one of five new defence cooperation agreements agreed between the French Republic’s Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly and Prabowo, who was then still the defence minister, on Thursday, 10 February 2022. That agreement was then realised for the first time with the delivery of 3 Rafale fighter jets on 27 January 2026. The arrival of these Rafales adds to the TNI AU’s fighter aircraft fleet, which was previously filled with T-50i, Hawk 100/200, Sukhoi Su-30, and F-16. According to the defence intelligence agency Janes, the value of that contract is around US$6.5 billion or equivalent to Rp93 trillion. The Aero Time website places the Rafale as the third most expensive fighter jet after the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35B, and F-35C.