 |
| Image: Flickr User - Zian Zulfikar Rahman |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
The country’s latest attempt may be more challenging than it looks.
Earlier this week, Indonesian defense minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said that the country would decommission all military aircraft more than 30 years old.
The announcement is not surprising. It comes just weeks after the crash of a C-130 Hercules air force plane killed about 140 people last month. The U.S.-made aircraft had gone into service nearly 50 years ago (See: “Indonesia’s Deadly Air Force Plane Crash”).
As I wrote then, this has predictably led to calls to speed up the modernization of Indonesian military (TNI) equipment. Some have urged the government to buy only new planes instead of relying on grants from other countries to purchase secondhand aircraft, much like the complaints heard earlier this year following an F-16 fighter jet malfunction (See: “Will Indonesia’s Fighter Jet Malfunction Affect its Defense Policy?”). Others, including President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, have used it as an opportunity to once again reiterate the importance of Indonesia striving for self-reliance in its own domestic defense industry (See: “An Indonesian Defense Revolution Under Jokowi?”).
Read the full story at The Diplomat