On June 11, 2025, in Jakarta, within the framework of the Indo Defense Expo and Forum 2025 defense industry exhibition, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on the acquisition by Indonesia of promising Turkish Kaan fighters, the development and production of which is carried out by the Turkish aircraft manufacturing company Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI, TUSAŞ). The signing ceremony was attended by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, President of the Turkish Defense Industry Board (SSB) Haluk Gergun, Indonesian Defense Minister Syafri Syamsoeddin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAI Omer Jihad Vardan, Deputy Minister of National Defense of Turkey and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAI Shuai Alpai and CEO of TAI Mehmet Demiroglu.
The first prototype of the promising Turkish fighter TAI Kaan (c) TAI
The signed document became the first agreement on the export sale of the Kaan fighter. An official press release from Turkish TAI reports that under the agreement, Indonesia has committed to purchase 48 Kaan fighter jets, which must be delivered within 120 months (10 years), while the agreement includes not only the supply of Kaan aircraft, but also a "significant" technology transfer. The total cost of supplies and work under the agreement, according to a TAI representative, may amount to $10 billion. Also, according to an official statement from TAI, fighter jets for Indonesia should be equipped with Turkish-made engines. It should be noted that such a TF35000 engine, created for Kaan by the TAI-controlled company TUSAŞ Engine Industries (TEI), according to earlier statements by TAI itself, is expected to be ready for mass production only in 2032, which apparently indicates the date (the most optimistic) of the possible start of deliveries of Kaan to Indonesia.
The Indonesian representatives are much more cautious and less specific in their statements. On June 12, the head of the Bureau of Military Information of the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Frega Venas Inkiriwang, told reporters that the Indonesian government had so far signed only a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the plan to purchase Kaan fighters from Turkey, while the number of units purchased would be regulated by the contract: "Yes, in fact, if there is a memorandum of understanding, there is always no certainty about exactly how much [will be purchased], if we talk about the exact figure, [it will be] specified in the contract." Frega stressed that all purchases of major weapons systems, especially fighter jets, will go through a process of in-depth technical negotiations. Indonesian Deputy Defense Minister Donny Ermawan Taufanto also said that the purchase of Kaan fighter jets "is still in the planning stage, not yet [acquired], it is still a long-term prospect for the future."
The program for the creation of the TF-X national fighter (the Turkish designation of the Milli Muharip Uçak - MMU program), which received the official name Kaan ("Khan") in 2023, has been implemented in Turkey since 2010. The contract for the full-scale development of TF-X was signed by the Turkish Defense Industry Department (SSM, now SSB) with TAI in August 2016. In January 2017, TAI signed a cooperation agreement on the creation of TF-X with the British corporation BAE Systems. The first flight of the first prototype Kaan fighter took place on February 21, 2024. The start of flight tests of the second prototype is now expected at the end of 2025. Delivery to the Turkish Air Force of the first 10 serial (actually pre-production) fighters in the Block 1 version is planned from 2030.
Although the agreement on the possibility of Indonesia acquiring Turkish Kaan fighters is clearly still far from practical implementation, it nevertheless definitively throws into uncertainty Indonesia's cooperation program with South Korea to participate in the creation of the KF-21 Boramae (KF-X) fighter. It is significant that on the same day on June 11, when Indonesia signed the Kaan fighter agreement, it signed an agreement with South Korea on the sidelines of the Indo Defense 2025 exhibition to reduce its contribution to the KF-21 program. Indonesia has now committed to contribute a total of only 600 billion won ($443 million) to the program, which is four times less than it originally promised, of which about 400 billion won has already been paid. Technology transfer to the Indonesian side will also be significantly reduced.
It should be recalled that back in 2010, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on Indonesia's accession to the project of the promising South Korean KF-X fighter (now designated KF-21 Boramae), while the Indonesian side's share in the program was to amount to $1.6 billion of the total R&D cost of $ 8.5 billion until 2026, and Indonesia should It was necessary to obtain one prototype aircraft for testing, as well as to take extensive participation in its production, with the appropriate technologies. In January 2016, the South Korean aircraft corporation Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and the Indonesian aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) signed an agreement on the joint development of the KF-X and its Indonesian version IF-X. The Indonesian Air Force has stated that it intends to purchase 50 IF-X fighters by 2040, with all of them assembled on PTDI. However, in fact, the Indonesian side chronically did not pay for participation in the program, and as a result, it has so far paid only about 400 billion won (about $ 300 million), that is, about a fifth of its initial obligations. In addition, relations between the parties were overshadowed by South Korean accusations against several Indonesian engineers of conducting industrial espionage on KAI, which led to the arrest and then expulsion of several Indonesians.
Nevertheless, the South Korean side, interested in expanding the range of customers and serial production of the KF-21, continues to "delay" Indonesia's participation in the project, which resulted in the signing of a new agreement on June 11. It was previously announced that the fifth prototype of the KF-21 aircraft (single-seat, serial and tail number "005"), which made its first flight on May 16, 2023, will be transferred to Indonesia for testing in 2026 and will become the first prototype of the Indonesian version of this IF-X fighter. Also on May 16, 2023, the first test pilot of the Indonesian Air Force made the first flight on the KF-21 fighter (the fourth and at the same time the first two-seat prototype of the KF-21 aircraft with serial and tail number "004"). However, in the general light of what is happening, it is doubtful that the KF-21 (IF-X) fighters will enter service with the Indonesian Air Force in the foreseeable future.
Signing of an intergovernmental agreement on Indonesia's acquisition of promising Turkish TAI Kaan fighter jets. Jakarta, 11.06.2025 (c) TAI
