RPT-UPDATE 1-Indonesia
still in talks to buy "9 or 10" Sukhoi Su-35 jets - official
* Hundreds of firms to be at Jakarta defence
show this week
* Western suppliers trying to wrestle deal
from Sukhoi - sources
* Indonesian defence spending jumped 77 pct to
$8.3 bln in 4 yrs
* Indonesia to increasingly diversify arms
suppliers - IHS
By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Eveline
Danubrata
JAKARTA, Nov 1 Indonesia is in talks to buy
"nine or 10" Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, an Indonesian
defence ministry official told Reuters on Tuesday, without giving a timeline
for any deal.
"We are still negotiating,"
Leonardi, head of the defence facilities at Indonesia's defence ministry who
goes by one name, said by telephone.
"We are still bargaining, 'how much do
you want to sell them for?'."
Indonesian defence minister Ryamizard Ryacudu
said in May the Southeast Asian country would buy eight Russian Sukhoi Su-35
jets this year, but the planned purchase has not materialised.
Rival Western companies are still trying to
wrest the deal to supply Indonesia with fighter jets away from Russia's Sukhoi,
two people familiar with the talks said, asking not to be named because of the
sensitivity of the matter.
The award has not been finalised and it is
seen as a test for efforts by Indonesian President Joko Widodo to enforce more
transparency in big-ticket deals, they said.
Hundreds of companies including Lockheed
Martin of the United States, Sweden's Saab and Indonesian state weapons maker
PT Pindad will be represented at an Indo Defence exhibition, which will be held
in Jakarta from Nov. 2 to Nov. 5.
The country's biggest annual defence show will
come weeks after Indonesian warplanes staged large-scale exercises on the edge
of a South China Sea area claimed by Beijing.
While Indonesia is not part of the dispute
over the South China Sea, it objects to China's inclusion of waters around the
Natuna Islands within its 'nine-dash line', a demarcation line used by China to
show its claims there.
Indonesia's total defence spending has risen
77 percent over the last four years to 108.7 trillion rupiah ($8.3 billion),
though it is expected to dip to 108.0 trillion rupiah next year, according to
official data.
Indonesia had signed a contract with Lockheed
Martin for 24 F-16 jets, of which 14 had been delivered and 10 more expected by
early 2018, the defence ministry's Leonardi said. He declined to disclose the
value of the deal.
Research firm IHS Markit predicts that
Indonesia will spend more than $20 billion on procurement between 2016 and 2025
-- the fifth fastest-growing defence budget in the world -- and it will
increasingly seek to diversify its suppliers.
South Korea, Russia and France are expected to
hold a combined market share of 53 percent between 2009 and 2018, while the
other half will be shared by about 30 countries, many with less than one
percent, IHS said.
"This reflects Indonesia's wariness about
dependency of a supplier or a set of suppliers, as well as the intention to
'shop around' for the best defence deals, spurring competition," said IHS
analyst Jon Grevatt. ($1 = 13,040.00 rupiah) (Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da
Costa in JAKARTA and Tim Hepher in ZHUHAI; Additional reporting by Gayatri
Suroyo and Kanupriya Kapoor in JAKARTA; Writing by Eveline Danubrata; Editing
by Robert Birsel and Louise Heavens)
Original
post: reuters.com
I
assume Indonesia will go for Su-35 I think part due to politics, infrastructure
cost and familiarization with the platform.
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post:
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