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Indonesia inks deal to buy French-made fighter jets
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Crew members stand next to a Rafale jet fighter on the deck of the French aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle, off the coast of Toulon on June 5, 2021. Indonesia on Feb. 10, 2022 ordered 42 Rafale fighter jets from France, as Paris and Jakarta seek to strengthen military ties in the facing of growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific. (AFP/NicolasTucat)
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ndonesia has signed a deal to buy six Rafale fighter jets from France in its initial purchase of a larger contract of a total 42, the government announced on Thursday, as bilateral ties between Jakarta and Paris reached an all time high.
The deal was signed during the visit of French Defense Minister Florence Parly to Jakarta, where she met her Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto.
It is part of Prabowo’s latest push to modernize Indonesia’s primary weapons system, as he proposed spending over US$100 billion in the next three years to upgrade its military arsenal.
Since he was appointed as defense minister in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s Cabinet, Prabowo has been leading efforts to strengthen Indonesia’s military posture amid greater security challenges in the region, including in Indonesia’s North Natuna Sea, which borders the highly disputed South China Sea.
