By Bernama
Jakarta : Three Russian-made Sukhoi or SU-30 jet fighter planes are to arrive in Indonesia later this year, Indonesia’s Antara news agency quoted Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Subandrio as saying here on Wednesday.
“The three Sukhoi fighter planes from Russia are expected to arrive in Indonesia before the National Defence Forces (TNI) anniversary on October 5,” Subandrio said after attending a function to mark the Air Force’s 62nd anniversary at Halim Perdanakusuma airport.
He said the three jet fighter aircrafts would become part of the Air Force’s Sukhoi Squadron V based in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
“The new fighter aircraft from Russia will heighten the state of the Air Force’s operational readiness,” Subandrio said, adding that the Defence Ministry was at present negotiating with Russia about the planes’ delivery to Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the defence ministry’s director general for defense facilities, Rear Marshal Erik Herryanto, said the ministry and Sukhoi aircraft maker Rosoborn Export would soon finalise negotiations on the supply of six Sukhoi fighter planes to Indonesia.
“The process to purchase the six Sukhoi planes is almost completed and we are now only waiting for the issuance of a letter of credit by the finance ministry,” Herryanto said.
The letter-of-credit issuing process would take three to six months so it was still difficult to say when exactly the Sukhoi planes would be delivered, he said.