Indonesian Defense Chief Criticized for Planned Eurofighter Typhoon Purchase

“Imparsial supports the modernization of the Indonesian military’s equipment and spare parts as long as they are done in an accountable, transparent manner that takes the Indonesian military’s budget and needs into account.”

Al Araf based his assessment of the Indonesian military’s inadequate spare parts on a Transparency International survey titled ‘Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index 2015.’

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“The survey showed that the risk for financial wrongdoing in the Indonesian defense sector is as high as countries like Namibia, Kenya and Bangladesh.”

Defense Ministry spokesman Djoko Purwanto declined to comment, as did Prabowo’s personal spokesman Dahnil Simanjuntak.

Prabowo has written a letter to his Austrian counterpart Klaudia Tanner on July 10 expressing his wish to buy the Eurofighter Typhoons.

The Austrian Air Force operate the Typhoons since mid-2008. The planes have been plagued by budgetary limits that constrained their flying time to 80 flying hours instead of the intended 110 hours. 

Indonesia's armed forces are often plagued by aging equipment and spare parts. The most recent evidence of this was a crash of a Hawk 209 trainer/fighter bomber in Riau last June. No casualties were reported in the incident. 

(Writers : Haryanti Puspa Sari, Achmad Nasrudin Yahya | Editors: Diamanty Meiliana, Fabian Januarius Kuwado)

Sources: 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/07/22/12493081/ketua-komisi-i-minta-prabowo-tak-buru-buru-putuskan-beli-pesawat-tempur?page=all#page2 .

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/07/22/15265141/menhan-didesak-batalkan-rencana-membeli-eurofighter-typhoon-bekas?page=all#page2.