Jakarta. Indonesia is set to receive the next batch of the French-made fighter jets when it is ready from a technical standpoint, according to the Defense Ministry, without disclosing the exact timeline.

Indonesia has placed orders for 42 Rafale fighter jets in a major upgrade to its airpower. The first three units of the aircraft had landed in the country last month, and are now available for use by the Indonesian Air Force, the Defense Ministry’s spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait said to the Jakarta Globe earlier this week. 

“The Rafale procurement is something carried out in gradual stages. The next arrival will take place according to the contract and technical readiness. We will make an official announcement in due course,” Rico said.

The brigadier general did not unveil how big a delivery the next batch would be. However, he had said back in January that the second tranche would be within the first half of this year. 

The 42-Rafale-jet deal, signed in 2022, had a price tag of a whopping $8.1 billion. Its manufacturer, the French defense manufacturer Dassault Aviation, wrote on its official website that the Rafale has more export orders than French placements. 

Overhaul of Indonesia’s aging military fleet will remain a priority for the current Prabowo Subianto administration. Within his first year, the Prabowo government placed orders for 48 Turkish-made KAAN jets.

Prabowo had reaffirmed to his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung that Jakarta would remain committed to resuming the KF-21 project. Jakarta sits as a junior partner in the Seoul-backed project, but has missed payment deadlines and even had its engineers embroiled in alleged data theft.

"We will continue to discuss the follow-up of the KF-21 project. Negotiations are continuing, but of course, the negotiations depend always on the economics, price, and the financing schemes," Prabowo told Jae Myung in Gwangju back in Nov. 2025.

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