On Might 6, Indonesia signed a framework contract with the Turkish firm Baykar for the supply of an preliminary 12 Bayraktar Kızılelma high-performance uncrewed fight aerial automobiles (UCAVs) and the institution of manufacturing and upkeep amenities in Indonesia, through the SAHA 2026 protection exhibition in Istanbul, underscoring the rising Indonesia-Türkiye protection partnership.
Türkiye has turn into however one – albeit arguably a very powerful of late – supply of protection tools to assist modernize the Indonesian army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI). Jakarta has lately signed 4 main contracts for army plane with Türkiye, involving at least six various kinds of crewed and uncrewed fight plane. This cooperation dates to April 2011, when the 2 nations signed a memorandum of understanding on protection industrial collaboration.
The Indonesia-Türkiye protection industrial collaboration has emerged as maybe Jakarta’s most strategic transfer up to now. The latest agreements are simply part of a wider protection materiel cooperation with Türkiye, which covers land, sea and air capabilities. This contains the I-class guided-missile frigates, Atmaca antiship missiles, Khan (Bora-1) short-range ballistic missiles, Trisula-O (Hisar-O) medium-range and Trisula-U (Hisar-U) long-range air-defense programs, and Harimau (Kaplan MT) medium tanks. Future plans additionally embrace cooperation on submarines. To underline the significance that Indonesia locations on the bilateral protection ties, the nation has turn into the primary overseas buyer for a lot of of those programs.
Lately, Jakarta has aggressively diversified its sources of protection materiel, shifting past conventional Western suppliers amid considerations over weapons and spares embargoes, and political constraints associated to know-how entry and operational use.
In addition to the shut affinity with Türkiye – each nations are quickly rising Muslim-majority center powers trying to find strategic autonomy and protection self-reliance – Indonesia has sought army plane from no fewer than 10 nations during the last decade, together with Italy, Austria, France, Türkiye, the USA, China, South Korea, Europe (Airbus), Brazil, and Russia. As well as, Jakarta has thought of additional fight plane, together with second-hand Mirage 2000-5s from Qatar and Eurofighter Typhoons from Austria, whereas negotiating for the JF-17 with Pakistan.
Jakarta’s procurement choices have usually been haphazard and finished with little foresight or consideration over the long-term financing, sustainment, and coaching for all kinds of various platforms of assorted origin, not to mention questions of interoperability, upkeep, and logistics. The clear over-diversification has already precipitated vital wastage of assets in separate logistics and help infrastructures, interoperability challenges, a number of coaching pipelines, and an absence of synergy, which has created silos of functionality quite than a single, built-in air power.
Jakarta can be making use of a stringent set of necessities for know-how switch as a way to achieve better operational and technological possession of acquired platforms, allow integration of native content material, and increase its native protection business. Nevertheless, having access to delicate, usually mental property rights-protected programs has confirmed troublesome as many OEMs are unwilling to share proprietary or delicate info with overseas clients.
Türkiye is a special story, as seen in its latest cooperation with Indonesia over the event and manufacture of uncrewed programs. In keeping with Republikorp, the 2 nations’ partnership entails the development of a whole ecosystem for growth of next-generation UCAVs in Indonesia. Via know-how switch, co-production, and the institution of a neighborhood industrial ecosystem, Indonesia has turn into a number one operator of uncrewed programs in Southeast Asia.
The Indonesian Air Pressure (TNI-AU) already operates a variety of U.S., Chinese language, and Turkish-made surveillance unmanned plane programs to observe the nation’s huge maritime house, essential maritime chokepoints, and distant elements of the archipelago.
Between 2024 and 2026, Indonesia signed up for 4 totally different Baykar UCAV fashions: the battle-tested medium-altitude, long-endurance Bayraktar TB-2, its carrier-borne brethren, the TB-3, the twin-engined high-altitude, long-endurance Akıncı, and the high-performance Kızılelma fighter-like UCAV. Moreover, Indonesia has obtained Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)’s uncrewed Anka-S in 2023.
Critically, as a part of these agreements, Indonesia’s PT Republik Aero Digintara or Republikorp, a non-public protection holding firm and a strategic companion to Indonesia’s protection industrial base, signed a three way partnership with Baykar for co-production and supply of 60 TB-3 and 9 Akıncı UCAVs to the TNI-AU. This follows an analogous settlement between TAI and the Indonesian state-owned enterprise PTDI signed in 2023 for 12 Anka-S UASs, half of which have been to be assembled domestically. The newest contract signed with Baykar for the acquisition of the Kızılelma extends the sooner settlement with know-how switch, joint analysis and growth, coaching, institution of native MRO amenities, and an choice for native manufacturing of as much as 48 Kızılelmas domestically.
Along with uncrewed plane, Indonesia has sought crewed fight plane from all over the world. Jakarta signed a cope with France’s Dassault for the supply of 42 Rafale F4 multirole fighters in 2022, the primary three of which have been delivered in January. This was adopted by a memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of 24 Boeing F-15ID Eagle II jet fighters from the USA in 2023. The latter deal, nevertheless, was cancelled by Boeing after Jakarta made no transfer to finalize the acquisition. Since then, Jakarta has expressed curiosity in Chinese language J-10C fighters amid their profitable exhibiting through the 2025 India-Pakistan air battle.
Most consequentially, Indonesia has joined two future fight plane growth packages: South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae (2016) and Türkiye’s Kaan (2025). In June 2025, Indonesia and Türkiye signed an implementation contract involving 48 TAI Kaan fighters on the sidelines of the Worldwide Protection Business Truthful in Istanbul on July 26, 2025. The $10 billion deal makes Indonesia the kind’s first worldwide buyer. Nonetheless a comparatively younger program however with an aggressive growth section, the Kaan performed its inaugural flight solely in February 2024, entered a “serial manufacturing section” in 2026, and is anticipated to hitch the Turkish and Indonesian air forces in 2028.
Indonesia’s entry into the Kaan program isn’t just an funding within the nation’s next-generation airpower but additionally a possibility to contribute to the kind’s growth. Moreover, in response to Indonesia’s Ministry of Protection, Türkiye will help Indonesia with know-how transfers, element meeting, and the institution of native MRO functionality to help this system domestically.
For Türkiye, the Kaan program isn’t just a fighter substitute however must be understood because the “most strategic protection undertaking” representing the nation’s imaginative and prescient for full protection independence.
The Kaan’s growth roadmap will combine a nationally produced Turkish Engine Industries TF35000 high-power turbofan engine (transition to the home engine is deliberate in 2036), an Aselsan Murad-600A Gallium Nitride-based (GaN) energetic electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a distributed aperture system, electro-optical focusing on programs, AI-driven sensor fusion algorithms, an Aselsan digital warfare suite, and weapons from Roketsan, which goal to maximise the plane’s indigenous content material. Importantly, non-reliance on U.S.-sourced engines and different key elements makes the plane nearly Worldwide Site visitors in Arms Laws-free, which significantly will increase the kind’s export potential.
For Indonesia, the Kaan could be considered as a hedge towards the TNI-AU’s future airpower alongside the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 Boramae, provided that it has been denied entry to the U.S. state-of-the-art F-35 Lightning II.
Due to this fact, the Kaan and Boramae packages supply Indonesia advantages that can’t be matched by their Western opponents: substantial know-how transfers, growth of help infrastructure, and industrial participation in Indonesia’s rising home protection industrial base. Indonesia will contribute to the 2 packages by manufacturing elements and elements for each plane and ultimately assembling them for the TNI-AU in Indonesia, with hopes of ultimately growing a neighborhood variant.
Nevertheless, the dangers of managing two complicated fighter packages of this scale could show past Indonesia’s capability. Thus far, probably the most complicated plane undertaking managed by the native business (on this case PTDI) is the manufacturing of the indigenously designed N219 and the Spanish CASA CN-235-200 gentle transport plane. Indonesia will doubtless want lots of direct help from TAI and KAI in program administration, coaching and engineering, manufacturing, high quality management, programs integration, and logistics.
If correctly executed, nevertheless, Indonesia’s home business stands an opportunity to climb the commercial ladder and assist TNI-AU soar into the ahead ranks of the area’s air forces, a minimum of by way of know-how.
Alternatively, the packages might fall sufferer to mismanagement, political indecision, unreliable financing, and therefore stymie TNI-AU’s future growth.
With constant protection spending at 1 p.c of GDP, with $4.2 billion allotted for procurement in 2025, Indonesia might wrestle to finance a number of main acquisition packages concurrently. This has resulted in Jakarta counting on overseas loans to finance its most formidable tasks.
For instance, Indonesia’s expertise with the KF-21 program could also be instructive. The federal government has struggled to pay its contractual 20 p.c share ($1.2 billion) of the fighter program growth value, and there was alleged knowledge theft amid the perceived lack of know-how switch. This led to an uncomfortable renegotiation of Indonesia’s program share (now at round 7.5 p.c), with Seoul and KAI shouldering the unpaid growth prices. As well as, Indonesia bumped into bother in funding the F-15ID acquisition undertaking, which was subsequently cancelled by Boeing.
In the end, the Boramae and the Kaan stay untested and are at early phases of their growth. Due to this fact, investing in unproven plane, that are years away from coming into preliminary service with TNI-AU, carries appreciable dangers.
Nonetheless, the Indonesia-Türkiye protection cooperation could but show to be Jakarta’s most strategic long-term transfer, with the promise to assist to modernize the TNI-AU with next-generation crewed and uncrewed fight plane. If profitable, this would scale back its dependence on Western platforms and know-how, whereas growing self-reliance and offering Indonesia’s native protection business entry to each the most recent protection know-how and alternatives for development.
